Hanoi (VNA) - Deputy Minister of NationalDefence Sen. Lieut. Gen. Hoang Xuan Chien met with Patrick Leahy, presidentpro tempore of the US Senate on September 22 (local time) in Washington DC,with their discussion focusing on war-aftermath mitigation projects inVietnam.

The US senator expressed his delight at outcomes of thenations’ collaboration in tackling war consequences, particularly a dioxin detoxificationproject at the Bien Hoa airport and a project on improving the quality of lifeof people with disabilities in eight provinces heavily sprayed with AgentOrange.

He also acknowledged the progress made in cooperation in searching for remains of missing-in-action US servicemen and Vietnamese martyrs aswell as in the implementation of joint communications campaigns.

Chien informed Leahy that his ministry has supported the COVID-19vaccination of people involved in the Bien Hoa airport project to ensure itsprogress and asked the US official to support the provision of more funding to complete the project sooner.

Chien proposed the US study to expand the beneficiaries in the lifequality improvement project as most provinces in Vietnam have AO/dioxin victims.

Leahy highlighted the importance of war-aftermath mitigation cooperation to the nations’ comprehensive partnership and vowed to dohis best to facilitate these above-said activities.

Earlier, Chien held a meeting with Samantha Power, Administratorof the US Agency for International Development (USAID), during which he proposedthe agency study and support the identification of Vietnamese soldiers who diedin the war, as well as improve testing capacity for Vietnam in this field.

Power said she backs Vietnam’s proposals and stressed theneed to accelerate the progress of the Bien Hoa airport project.

While in the US, the Vietnamese official also met with ElyRatner, US Assistant Secretary of Defence for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs, and AtulKhare, UN Under-Secretary-General for Operational Support ./.