PM welcomes Dean of Harvard Kennedy University

At the reception (Source: VNA)

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc on January 17 received Douglas Elmendorf, Dean of the Harvard Kennedy School at the Harvard University; Thomas Vallely, Director of the Vietnam Programme at Harvard University; and representatives of the Fulbright University Vietnam (FUV).

During the reception, PM Phuc said the Vietnam-US comprehensive partnership has developed practically and effectively in all fields, noting that economic - trade - investment and education-training cooperation continue to be important motivations.

The Harvard University has maintained the Vietnam Executive Leadership Programme (VELP), which helps Vietnamese leaders to exchange views with professors and experts from the US university, policy makers and entrepreneurs from leading US businesses, contributing to the building of visions and ideas for senior policy makers of the Southeast Asian nation, he said.

The PM applauded the initial successes of the FUV, expressing his hope that the working visit to Vietnam will open a new chapter in education and training cooperation between the Harvard University and Vietnam.

PM Phuc suggested the Harvard University and Fulbright University continue organising the VELP programme and offer scholarships to Vietnamese students, thus helping to develop human resources for Vietnam.

For his part, Elmendorf expressed his delight at the flourishing development in bilateral relations after after 25 years of normalising relations between the two countries, including cooperation in education and training.

The school pledges to continue supporting and promoting projects and initiatives for education and training cooperation between the two nations in the near future, he stressed.

Elmendorf said the US and many countries had faced challenges similar to those facing Vietnam today, therefore majors taught at the university will help Vietnam in policy making, public management, and urbanization.

Meanwhile, Vallely said the ongoing visit aims to exchange views and propose cooperation programmes in the coming time.

Established in 2016 with its headquarter in Ho Chi Minh City, the FUV is an independent and non-profit higher education institution. It is the next step of the existing Fulbright Economics Teaching Programme, a public policy master’s programme that the Ash Centre at the Harvard Kennedy School at the Harvard University, established in 1994 in cooperation with the HCM City-based University of Economics.