USAID administrator visits HCM City and Mekong Delta region

She met with a local women-led start-up to hear how a USAID-supported app is boosting the efforts of freelance collectors seeking to increase urban recycling and help to prevent plastics from entering the ocean. On International Women’s Day, she highlighted the USAID’s strong commitments to empowering women to earn a sustainable income and advance locally-led solutions.

Power then visited a factory belonging to American-owned VF Corporation in order to observe its renewable energy systems that were installed with USAID regulatory support and are currently powering factory operations. She highlighted how the USAID is partnering with the country to accelerate its clean energy transition and achieve its net zero emissions commitments made at COP26. 

Next, she paid a visit to Phu Ly Pagoda in Vinh Long province where she heard from local leaders and members of the local Khmer community about how climate change is harming their harvests and negatively affecting the future of farming in the Mekong Delta region. 

Power concluded the day with a visit to one of more than 10,000 floating aquaculture farms throughout the Mekong Delta where she interacted with fish farmers and heard their concerns about the various impacts of climate change.

She heard about how the farmers are coping with changing water levels and growing salinity in the Hau and Tien Rivers, both which are two main tributaries of the Mekong in Vietnam.

The administrator highlighted that a critical part of the future of the bilateral partnership with Vietnam is USAID’s commitment to addressing the impact of climate change in the region.