US Ambassador Michael Michalak is leaving his post a satisfied man with many accomplishments during his 3 year tenure.
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| US Ambassador Michalak gave a final farewell speech January 6 in Hanoi. |
Sworn in on August 7, 2007, Michalak gave is final farewell speech today, January 6, at the US Embassy, highlighting certain milestones in relations between the two nations. During his tenure of a little more than three and a half years, Ambassador Michalak has helped to strengthen collaboration and communication between Washington and Hanoi.
In his parting message, Ambassador Michalak drew attention to areas where the US - Vietnam relationship has grown. But he put a special emphasis on the importance of education in Vietnam, an issue that has been one of his top priorities.
“I am particularly proud of our education exchanges,” he said. “In 1995, there were fewer than 800 Vietnamese studying in the US. I’m very pleased to report that there are now more than 13,000 Vietnamese studying in the United States.”
When asked if the next US Ambassador will continue to make this a priority, Michalak said, “I think you will like him. He used to work for me in Japan, so he may sometimes think of me as an older brother. And I’ll tell him as an older brother to a younger brother to continue the work on education in Vietnam. Though I’m sure he’ll have his own priorities.”
Some of his more recent achievements include the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding with the Ministry of Science and Technology to cooperate on nuclear energy. Technical teams have visited Vietnam to discus nuclear reactor safety.
Partnership between the two countries’ military has also grown. “After over two decades working together on recovering Americans missing in action, just last month we signed a USD1 million, two-year agreement to provide technical assistance to help Vietnam recover its MIAs.”
During his time as ambassador, two US military vessels visited Vietnamese waters on humanitarian missions. The Mercy, US Naval hospital ship, made two visits, treating more than 19,000 patients. Pacific Angel, centred in Can Tho, was a similar mission carried out by the US Airforce.
Though most of the speech was focused on accomplishments that have been made, the Ambassador did bring up some points that have been contentious in the past. Some of these issues centered around human rights, intellectual property protection and laws on national security.
Last year marked the 15-year anniversary of official US - Vietnam relations. Although Ambassador Michalak said that there have been and will continue to be frank and difficult discussions. Addressing the future of the relationship, Mr. Michalak shared, “I am truly optimistic.”