Speeches

I think it's fair to say that each administration has a chance to chart its development agenda, and we are here this morning to encapsulate ours and to chart ours – the USAID policy framework entitled “Driving Progress Beyond Programs.” 

There is so much that USAID is doing right now in Ukraine that I think the broad majority of people, even who are following Ukraine, are, excuse me, unaware of. And so, just to give you a flavor of this, of course, there is an acute humanitarian need and has been from February 24th last year, the displacement – the mass displacement that occurred.  

I have the privilege of running USAID, which is an agency that works all around the world, but I can think of no country where the work that we do has been more important or more foundational to the bilateral relationship than here in Vietnam.

I know that many of you here today have been working for years – in some cases decades – not just to increase access to care, but to reach historically marginalized communities, and to focus, of course, on quality, as well. Our new strategy will help us more effectively partner and coordinate with you all. And it will serve as a model for others looking to do the same – because ending preventable deaths among mothers and children will take all of us. As Atul said, working together.

Countering corruption is critical to USAID’s mission to advance a free, peaceful, and prosperous world.  It’s easy to imagine money hiding in offshore accounts or oligarchs purchasing yachts with stolen funds – and be lulled into a sense that this has nothing to do with development. However, corruption isn’t a victimless crime.  

Thank you so much, Cameron, thank you Ambassador for being here, and good afternoon, everyone. I’ve had an immensely productive trip to Vietnam, from Ho Chi Minh City to the Mekong Delta to now drinking egg coffees here in Hanoi, and so I’m eager to share with you some of what I have seen and learned, and to take your questions after offering some initial thoughts. 

First of all, thank you all for joining here. I think many of you got to witness the town hall and I think you all have a sense of the incredible intellect and passion that Vietnamese young people here at Can Tho University feel toward improving the climate and the environment in their communities and in their country.

A very special day every year. And to help commemorate the occasion, we have two very special guests. I am very pleased to introduce to you Ambassador John Bass – he, of course, is the Acting Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources; and our colleague Paloma Adams-Allen – she is the USAID Deputy Administrator for Management and Resources.

As you all know, Vietnam is one of the top five most vulnerable countries in the world to climate change. And I thought in coming to Vietnam, it was extremely important to come to the Mekong Delta, where anything that happens to the environment or to the climate or to sea levels, or to upstream river flow, is going to have an effect on the livelihoods of fisherpeople, aquacultural people, rice farmers, people who produce any crop.

Wonderful to be here at Fulbright University in Vietnam. I'm a great believer in sports as a tool for empowerment, particularly for the empowerment of young women. We are here on the eve of International Women's Day and had a great thrill of getting to play with Vietnam's silver ball winner [Trần Thị Thùy] Trang, who, of course, will be competing against the United States in the World Cup in the Vietnamese women's team's first ever trip to the Women's World Cup.