Representatives of the US Veterans for Peace Association visit and work with VAVA’s Central Committee

These are VAVA’s first international friends in the new year 2024. The delegation includes: Mr. Paul Cox, National Committee for Veterans for Peace, California (former President of the US Veterans Healthcare Policy Institute) and is a core member of the Vietnam Agent Orange Relief and Responsibility Campaign (VAORRC); Mr. Chuck Searcy, President of the US Veterans for Peace, Branch 160 (VFP 160), Co-founder of Project RENEW in Quang Tri, who has lived and worked in Vietnam for nearly 30 years and has made important contributions to reconciling and promoting relations between the two countries.

Lieutenant General Nguyen Huu Chinh, VAVA’s President, chaired the working session. The session also saw the attendance of Major General Do Hong Lam, VAVA’s Vice President, Ms. Do Mai Khanh, Head of the VAVA’s Foreign Affairs Department and Mr. Nguyen Manh Dung, Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Vietnam Orange Magazine. Delegates listened, exchanged, and discussed the strategic action plan to support victims of Agent Orange in 2024 which emphasized that the primary goal is to mobilize members of the US Congress to approve the Vietnam Agent Orange Victims Relief Act that American friends have submitted and pursued since 2011. To date, there have been 6 Draft Acts submitted to the US Congress but have not been passed. At the meeting, the two sides discussed the content of the 7th Draft Act, and efforts to lobby the US Congress to support and help victims of Agent Orange as much as possible.

Speaking at the meeting, Lieutenant General Nguyen Huu Chinh highly appreciated the activities of VFP - one of the long-standing traditional partners of VAVA since its inception with active contribution to healing the wound of war and fighting for justice for victims of Agent Orange. Chinh hopes that VFP will continue to lobby the US Congress to pass the Vietnam Agent Orange Victims Relief Act, while seeking every opportunity to help victims of Agent Orange in Vietnam.

Foreign Affairs Department - VAVA