US Science Envoy pays visit to VN

HCM CITY — US Presidential Science Envoy for South and South East Asia Dr Rita Colwell on Wednesday held discussions with Vietnamese educational, science, and university officials on co-operation to foster research at universities.

"It is an opportunity for me to spend time in Viet Nam to find out which programme can be expanded, which programme might be developed to foster exchange of students and faculty," she told a roundtable discussion held at the HCM City University of Technical Education.

"One of the programmes I would like to see being expanded is the laboratory-to-laboratory programme," she said.

"This allows students to go back and forth between the two countries for up to six months and has laboratory faculty from the US coming to Viet Nam to lecture and help their counterparts here and Vietnamese lab faculty coming to the US for experience," she said.

"Expanding US-Viet Nam collaboration in science, technology, and engineering is one of the best ways to underpin the dynamism of Viet Nam's economy and people," she added.

She is visiting Viet Nam from February 6 to 10, and will continue to meet senior government officials and representatives from the scientific, education, non-profit, and business communities.

She has been discussing co-operation in subjects like climate change, public health, science, engineering, and mathematics, technology and innovation for economic development, and joint research. —VNS