US hands over $1 mln lodging facility for Vietnam peacekeepers

By Phan Anh, Hoang Thuy November 18, 2021 | 04:27 pm PT

Lieutenant General Hoang Xuan Chien (L), Vietnamese Deputy Minister of National Defense, and Chargé d’Affaires, a.i. Marie Damour taking a tour at a new peacekeepers logging facility in Hanoi, November 17, 2021. Photo courtesy of the U.S. Embassy in Vietnam

The U.S. Embassy has handed over a $1 million transient instructor and student accommodation facility at the Vietnam Department of Peacekeeping Operations.

The five-story building, funded by the U.S., provides lodging to instructors and students attending training courses by the U.N., according to a press release by the U.S. Embassy on Thursday.

The facility has 12 units for instructors, 20 units that can accommodate 40 students, a dining facility, and a reception room.

At the handing over ceremony, Marie Damour, U.S. Embassy Charge d’Affaires, said the building represents the U.S. commitment to strengthen Vietnam’s peacekeeping capabilities and to the enduring relationship between the two countries.

Hoang Kim Phung, director of the Vietnam Department of Peacekeeping Operations, said the facility would help the department pursue the goal to become a training center for peacekeeping forces, both on regional and global levels.

Since the signing of the U.S.-Vietnam Peacekeeping Memorandum of Understanding in 2015, the Office of Defense Cooperation of the U.S. Embassy in Hanoi has provided over $11 million to the Vietnam Department of Peacekeeping Operations for training, technical assistance, equipment, and infrastructure.