PM Nguyen Tan Dung received the delegation of US veterans on April 7 and highly appreciated their active contributions and supports to Vietnamese Agent Orange victims.

PM Nguyễn Tấn Dũng (R) and Mr. Paul Cox, head of the US veteran delegation, Hà Nội, April 6, 2010 - Photo: VGP

Welcoming the American veterans and hailing their willingness, PM Nguyen Tan Dung said that the Vietnam War’s consequences are still very severe here when millions of Vietnamese victims of Agent Orange (AO) are suffering both physical and spiritual pains.

The Vietnamese leader hoped that the US side would have specific and practical acts to ease the victims’ burdens and sufferings as well as assist Vietnam to mitigate the environmental impacts.

He emphasized that the Vietnamese people are disappointed to unfair verdict of the US Supreme Court when dismissing petitions of Vietnamese AO victims against American chemical producers which provided the US army with dioxin during the Vietnam War.

Acknowledging activities conducted by the US veterans in drafting a bill on dealing war consequences in Vietnam and assisting Vietnamese AO victims, PM Dung confirmed that Vietnam is ready to shake hands with the US in these programs.

Mr. Paul Cox, head of the delegation, revealed that the US veterans are campaigning for AO victims’ rights. Through the visit to Vietnam, they want to contact the AO victims and collect more information for the bill.

Mr. Paul Cox pledged that he himself and his peers would do their utmost for the approval of the bill in order to help the Vietnamese AO victims.