HANOI, December 10, 2014 -- The U.S. Agency for International Development’s (USAID) Acting Assistant Administrator for Asia, Anne Aarnes, will pay a working visit to Vietnam from December 10-12. During the visit Ms. Aarnes will mark the creation of a USAID-backed alliance that supports trade facilitation to help Vietnam expand the benefits of economic integration.

Ms. Aarnes will discuss development cooperation on economic growth and governance with leaders of Vietnam’s Ministry of Justice (MOJ) as well as sign a memorandum of understanding with the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs on USAID disabilities programs for the coming years. She will also deliver opening remarks at a workshop to facilitate dialogue with civil society on revisions to the Civil Code. At this workshop, organized by the MOJ with support from USAID, Ms. Aarnes will announce a new grants program to support innovative partnerships for advancing a clear legal and regulatory framework, improved accountability of public institutions and greater public participation.

While in Ho Chi Minh City, Ms. Aarnes will join leaders of the American Chamber of Commerce and the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry to formalize a trade facilitation alliance. She will also travel to Vinh Long province, where she will visit a USAID-supported savings-led microfinance project aimed at assisting economically disadvantaged women in the Mekong Delta.

Under USAID’s Country Development Cooperation Strategy for Vietnam (2014 - 2018), the agency is working to strengthen the new U.S.-Vietnam Comprehensive Partnership and address fundamental development challenges in order to support Vietnam’s continued transformation into a responsible, more inclusive partner with a market-based economy.

Remarks by USAID’s Acting Assistant to the Administrator Anne Aarnes at the Ministry of Justice’s Workshop on Public Inputs into the Revised Civil Code