Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh receives delegation of 21 leading US universities

Appreciating the opinions shared by the delegates, expressing "heart-to-heart" feelings, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh believes that the wishes and determination for cooperation stated in this working session will soon be realized through specific cooperation projects and programs - Photo: VGP/Nhat Bac

Attending the meeting were Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Kim Son; Minister of Science and Technology Nguyen Manh Hung; US Ambassador to Vietnam Marc E. Knapper; leaders of ministries, sectors, agencies and Vietnamese universities.

The International Academic Partnership Program (IAPP) 2025 is jointly implemented by the U.S. Embassy in Vietnam, the Ministry of Education and Training, and the Institute of International Education.

This is an activity to strategically connect Vietnamese universities with US universities, supporting universities of both sides to build practical, effective and sustainable cooperation plans. The cooperation content focuses on the STEM field, including digital transformation, green transformation, ICT, semiconductors - microchips, AI, automation, biotechnology, advanced materials, green energy, international law, agriculture and sustainability, health, education, Southeast Asian studies and Vietnamese language studies.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh works with a delegation of 21 leading prestigious universities in the United States - Photo: VGP/Nhat Bac

Participating in IAPP 2025, on the US side, there are 21 prestigious US universities; on the Vietnamese side, there are 30 major universities. According to the planned schedule, the US delegation will meet and discuss directly with 30 Vietnamese universities about cooperation plans.

Pleased to meet the delegation of leading US universities on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the US and Vietnam (1995-2025), Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh said that right after Vietnam gained national independence, in 1946, President Ho Chi Minh sent a letter to President Harry Truman proposing to establish full diplomatic relations with the US, demonstrating Vietnam's goodwill in relations with the US.

Through ups and downs and breakthroughs, by 2023, Vietnam and the United States officially upgraded their relationship to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership for peace, cooperation and sustainable development. The Vietnam-US relationship is considered a model in international relations, from former enemies to Comprehensive Strategic Partnership; the United States supports a strong, independent, self-reliant and prosperous Vietnam; the two sides put the past behind them, exploit commonalities, limit disagreements, respect differences, and look to the future.

US Ambassador to Vietnam Marc E. Knapper and representatives of US universities highly appreciated Vietnam's development strategy, especially in the field of education and training - Photo: VGP/Nhat Bac

After 30 years of establishing diplomatic relations, Vietnam-US relations have achieved many outstanding achievements, becoming leading partners of each other. In particular, cooperation in the fields of education, training, science, technology and innovation has been identified as one of the important pillars and achieved many results.

Currently, there are about 30,000 Vietnamese students studying in the United States, ranking 5th in the number of international students in the United States; there are about more than 50 joint training programs between Vietnamese and American higher education institutions, mainly undergraduate and master's programs. After training, many people work very successfully in agencies and enterprises in both Vietnam and the United States.

Reiterating President Ho Chi Minh's teaching that "an ignorant nation is a weak nation", the Prime Minister said that Vietnam considers education and training to be a top national policy. In the Declaration of Independence, President Ho Chi Minh affirmed that "all people are born equal", so everyone has equal access to education. Immediately after gaining national independence, Vietnam focused on "eradicating illiteracy".

Representatives of US universities speak at the meeting - Photo: VGP/Nhat Bac

Currently, Vietnam is building the country with three main pillars: a socialist rule-of-law state; socialist democracy and a socialist-oriented market economy. Vietnam is focusing on implementing three strategic breakthroughs in institutions, infrastructure and human resources, especially high-quality human resources; striving to create breakthroughs in science and technology development, innovation and national digital transformation.

Vietnam has issued a number of important documents and policies on the development of education - training and science and technology to fundamentally and comprehensively innovate education and training; create breakthroughs in the development of science, technology, innovation, and national digital transformation. Vietnam commits to spending up to 20% of the total state budget on education and training to improve people's knowledge, train human resources, foster talents, and develop people in terms of morality, intelligence, physical fitness, and aesthetics; and looks forward to sharing and cooperation with the United States in the development of education and training.

Expressing sincere thanks to Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh for taking the time to receive the delegation, US Ambassador to Vietnam Marc E. Knapper and representatives of US universities highly appreciated Vietnam's development strategy, especially in the field of education and training; said they are ready to cooperate and stand side by side with Vietnam to implement socio-economic development strategies, especially in education, training, science, technology and innovation, improving the quality of human resources, contributing to deepening the Vietnam-US Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.

Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Kim Son speaks at the meeting - Photo: VGP/Nhat Bac

Introducing the potential and cooperation programs, representatives of US universities and Vietnamese universities proposed that the Government and the Prime Minister direct and support the promotion of the connection between the two educational systems, implementing educational and training cooperation programs, especially in student and lecturer exchanges, joint training, joint research programs...

Appreciating the opinions shared by the delegates, expressing "heart-to-heart" feelings, the Prime Minister believes that the wishes and determination for cooperation stated in this working session will soon be realized through specific cooperation projects and programs.

Regarding the situation in Vietnam, the Prime Minister said that Vietnam is striving to achieve growth of 8% in 2025, creating momentum, strength, foundation, and spirit for a period of double-digit growth in the following years. Therefore, there must be strategies to "turn the situation around, change the state". Vietnam focuses on restructuring the apparatus; administrative reform, changing the state from passive to proactive in serving the people and businesses; identifying the development of science, technology, innovation, and digital transformation as breakthroughs and new driving forces for development; the private economy is the most important driving force of economic development... In which, education and training play a very important role.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and the delegation of 21 leading prestigious universities in the United States - Photo: VGP/Nhat Bac

Considering that cooperation between Vietnamese and US universities has been implemented over the past years, achieving many results, but has not been as deep and effective as expected, the Prime Minister suggested that universities of the two countries closely coordinate to develop long-term, sustainable, practical and effective cooperation plans with diverse, creative and flexible forms such as student and lecturer exchanges, joint training, joint research programs, entering new fields to help Vietnam exploit marine space, outer space, underground space; the US considers expanding scholarship programs and tuition incentives for Vietnamese students and researchers.

Informing that recently, large US corporations such as Intel, NVIDIA, Apple... have come to learn and invest, expanding the ecosystem of corporations, the Prime Minister suggested that universities of both sides proactively exchange to have specific cooperation programs, especially in high-tech industries, AI, semiconductors, biotechnology, health, agriculture, foreign languages, training high-quality human resources according to the requirements of corporations, businesses of the two countries and cooperation in research and development.

The Prime Minister said that Vietnam is making efforts to resolve the trade balance between the two countries, maintaining sustainable economic cooperation momentum through many solutions such as reducing taxes on US products such as wood and agricultural products; increasing imports of US products such as aircraft, liquefied natural gas (LNG), high-tech products; creating conditions for US businesses to invest and expand in Vietnam and addressing US concerns...

The Prime Minister asked school leaders to speak up to the Trump administration to soon recognize Vietnam as a market economy; remove restrictions on high-tech exports to Vietnam; limit policies that affect Vietnam's economic and trade relations, and create conditions for Vietnam to continue to develop.

With the viewpoint of "valuing intelligence, time and decisiveness", "what is good must be better, what is effective must be more effective", Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh believes that the cooperation in education and training between Vietnam and the United States in the coming time will be deeper and more effective, contributing to the development of each country, people and the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between the two countries, as well as to peace, stability, cooperation and development in the region and the world./.

Ha Van

Source: https://baochinhphu.vn/thu-tuong-pham-minh-chinh-tiep-doan-21-dai-hoc-hang-dau-hoa-ky-102250331130301416.htm