Hanoi (VNA) – US Ambassador to Vietnam Ted Osius on September 13 handed over gifts to children affected by Agent Orange (AO) dioxin at the Vietnam Friendship Village on the occasion of the Mid-Autumn Festival.
He said the festival offers a good opportunity for foreigners to learn about Vietnamese culture, history, people and language.
On this occasion, he talked with war veterans under treatment in the village, recalling his visits to the central province of Quang Tri, a fierce battlefield during the war, and noting his hope that there will no victims of war-era bombs and mines in the locality.
The US and Vietnamese Governments have reached consensus on dioxin cleanup at Da Nang and Bien Hoa airports, he said, informing that the work has been half-done.
The ambassador voiced his support for the Vietnamese Government’s policy of putting the past behind and looking towards the future.
The Vietnam Friendship Village, about 11 kilometres west of central Hanoi, provides medical care, physical therapy, education and vocational training to Vietnamese children, young adults and veterans with a range of maladies presumed to be caused by AO.-VNA