Forged in the effort in the 1980s to account for missing Americans and assist Vietnamese suffering from war-related disabilities, cooperation between the former adversaries to heal the devastating consequences of the war expanded to include locating and removing unexploded ordnance, remediation of dioxin (Agent Orange) contamination at former U.S. airbases, and supporting health and disability programs for victims of Agent Orange. 

This decades-long, joint humanitarian effort to overcome the legacies of war has enabled the United States and Vietnam to achieve the normalization of post-war relations based on mutual respect. In recent years, it has expanded to shared interests encompassing diplomacy, trade, and regional security. 

American and Vietnamese leaders and experts explored this historic cooperative effort and the lessons it offers the world, and discussed the future of U.S.-Vietnam relations. Take part in the conversation on Twitter with #USAVietnam.

Video and audio recordings of the event are below.

Agenda

8:30am – 8:35am - Welcome Remarks

• The Honorable Nancy Lindborg
  President & CEO, U.S. Institute of Peace

8:35am – 8:50am - Remarks on behalf of the Government of Vietnam

• Senior Lieutenant General Nguyen Chi Vinh
  Deputy Defense Minister; Permanent Member of Standing Committee 701

8:55am – 9:05am - Video 

9:05am – 9:20am - Remarks by Senior U.S. Department of Defense Official

• Dr. Joseph H. Felter
  Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for South and Southeast Asia 

9:20am – 9:30am - Remarks

• Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) 
  U.S. Senator, Vermont

9:30am – 10:30am - Panel 1: Foundations of U.S.-Vietnamese Post-War Partnership 

• Kelly McKeague
  Director, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency
• Nguyen Huu Luong
  MIA Agency Director, Ministry of Defense
• Ambassador Pham Quang Vinh
  Former Vietnamese Ambassador to the United States
• Robert Destatte
  Vietnam Analyst, Defense Intelligence Agency 
• Fred Downs
  Former National Director, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Prosthetic and Sensory Aids Service
• Ambassador Charles Ray (Ret.), moderator
  Former Consul General, Ho Chi Minh City

10:50am – 11:00am - Remarks

• Honorable Bonnie Glick
  Deputy Administrator, USAID 

11:00am – 12:00pm - Panel 2: Healing from the Destruction of War 

• Minh Huu Doan
  Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs of Vietnam 
• Thao Griffiths
  Policy Advisor, Chairman of Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry; Former Country Director Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation 
• Christopher Abrams
  Director, Environment and Social Development Office, USAID/Vietnam
• Colonel Than Thanh Cong
  Director, Office 701 
• Jerry Guilbert
  Chief of Programs, Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement, U.S. Department of State 
• Charles R. Bailey, moderator
  Co-author, “From Enemies to Partners: Vietnam, the U.S. and Agent Orange”
  Former Director of Agent Orange programs at Ford Foundation & Aspen Institute

12:00pm - 12:10pm - Remarks

• The Honorable John Sullivan
  Deputy Secretary of State

12:10pm – 1:10pm - Panel 3: The Road Ahead: Building an Enduring Partnership 

• Ambassador Ha Kim Ngoc
  Vietnamese Ambassador to the United States 
• Sr. Lt. Gen. Nguyen Chi Vinh
  Deputy Defense Minister; Permanent Member of Standing Committee 701
• W. Patrick Murphy
  Acting Assistant Secretary, Bureau of East Asia and Pacific Affairs, U.S. Department of State 
• Tim Rieser
  Foreign Policy Aide, Senator Patrick Leahy
• Elizabeth Becker
  Former New York Times correspondent and author of “When the War Was Over: Cambodia and the Khmer Rouge Revolution”
• Ambassador William Taylor (Ret.), moderator
  Executive Vice President, U.S. Institute of Peace

1:25pm – 1:35pm - Remarks for Luncheon 

• Ambassador Ha Kim Ngoc
  Vietnamese Ambassador to the United States

1:40pm – 2:30pm - Luncheon Conversation 

• Honorable Chuck Hagel
  Former U.S. Secretary of Defense  
• Marvin Kalb
  Journalist and author
• The Honorable Nancy Lindborg, moderator
  President & CEO, U.S. Institute of Peace