US embassy cable - 05HANOI1050

UNCLAS HANOI 001050 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
STATE FOR EAP/BCLTV 
USDA FOR FAS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EAID, EAGR, VM 
SUBJECT: FOOD FOR PROGRESS: AMBASSADOR'S FUND IN VIETNAM 
 
 
1.  Summary: The Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) of the 
U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) selected Vietnam as a 
recipient of a commodity donation program three times, in 
FY2000, FY2002 and FY2004.  Each time, FAS and the Ministry 
of Finance (MOF) agreed to set aside a small portion of the 
proceeds from sales of the donated commodities for a fund, 
called the Ambassador's Fund, to be used for smaller scale 
humanitarian and/or developmental projects selected by the 
Ambassador.  Once the Ambassador identified the projects, 
MOF approved them and disbursed the funds. The Ambassador's 
Fund has enabled the Vietnam Mission to support a variety of 
deserving humanitarian projects, including health clinics, 
orphanages, and skills training for disadvantaged youth. 
According to FAS, Vietnam will no longer receive food aid 
under the Food for Progress program, however, because the 
country's food gap has decreased.  The Mission will 
certainly miss the opportunity to contribute directly to 
such a variety of worthy causes. End Summary. 
2.  FAS and MOF agreed three times to set aside USD 200,000 
from the government-to-government PL-480 Title I-funded Food 
for Progress Donations for use as the Ambassador's Fund.  As 
a government-to-government exchange of foreign aid, once the 
commodities are sold in Vietnam, the proceeds become part of 
the GVN budget and are subject to its regulations on 
accounting and disbursement.  For this reason, every project 
identified by the Ambassador must either be run by a 
Vietnamese organization or have a Vietnamese counterpart. 
 
3.  In 2001, Ambassador Peterson funded a health clinic, an 
orphanage, an elementary school library/laboratory and 
Children of Vietnam, a U.S.-based non-governmental 
organization working to improve the nutrition, education, 
healthcare and residences of disadvantaged and disabled 
children.  He also arranged for USD 20,000 from the Fund to 
provide assistance, anonymously through the Vietnam Red 
Cross, to the family members of Vietnamese victims of the 
April 7, 2001 Quang Binh helicopter crash which also killed 
seven Americans, members of the Joint Task Force-Full 
Accounting team. 
 
4.  In 2003, Ambassador Burghardt identified eight projects 
for funding, with various goals including school 
construction, endangered wildlife conservation, a water and 
sanitation program, an orthopedics/rehabilitation center and 
an orphanage for girls run by a Catholic nun. 
 
5.  In 2004, Ambassador Burghardt identified eleven 
projects, which Ambassador Marine reaffirmed and submitted 
to MOF.  These projects include wildlife conservation, 
resource management, sustainable tourism/environment, skills 
training for disadvantaged youth, cultural heritage 
conservation, and health care.  To date the MOF has not 
issued final approval for the FY04 proposals, but we expect 
approval will be granted.  MOF delayed approval and 
disbursement of funds because it needed to repeat the 
auction for 14,000 out of the original 24,000 metric ton 
wheat donation.  The original buyer did not have enough 
money to pay for the entire wheat shipment.  This led to a 
delay in disbursing funds to the many GOV agencies that were 
awarded projects and funding under the FY 2004 food aid 
program, but now that the second auction has taken place, 
there should be progress soon. 
 
6.  The projects sponsored by the Ambassadors since 2000 
have made a difference in the lives of countless people 
across Vietnam and have engendered goodwill among 
international and Vietnamese non-governmental organizations 
and the governmental offices that carried out the funded 
projects.  According to FAS, Vietnam has reduced its food 
gap to such as extent that it will no longer qualify for the 
Food for Progress Program.  Although the news that Vietnam's 
need for food aid has diminished is encouraging, the Vietnam 
Mission will certainly miss the opportunity to contribute 
directly to such a variety of worthy causes. 
 
MARINE 
 
 
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