VietNamNet Bridge – US Deputy Chief of the Mission in Vietnam Virginia Palmer said before Vietnam officially opens its consulate in Houston, the US wants to broaden its consular capacity in HCM City to serve US citizens and to boost trade, investment and tourism in south Vietnam.

The US Deputy Chief of the Mission in Vietnam, Virginia Palmer.

She confirmed the US’ support for the opening of the Vietnamese consulate in Houston, the largest city in Texas and host to the second-largest community of Vietnamese in the US.

“The US welcomes Vietnam’s opening of a consulate in Houston. However, there are some issues that we have to solve,” Mrs. Virginia Palmer said.

She said the two sides are negotiating and “are going to complete the negotiation process”. The two sides expect that the Vietnamese consulate in Houston will be inaugurated this year.

The community of Vietnamese-Americans in Houston and surrounding areas of Texas with around 85,000 Vietnamese is the largest community of Vietnamese in the US after Little Saigon in Orange County, California.

In recent years, Vietnamese in California have been moving to Houston, which is famous worldwide for the energy industry. Many companies in Texas have business relations with Vietnam.

During his visit to the US in June 2008, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung met with the Vietnamese community in Texas.

The US diplomat said that the US Supreme Court’s decision rejecting Vietnamese Agent Orange/dioxin victims’ petition won’t affect the efforts and cooperation of the US and Vietnamese governments in dealing with the AO/dioxin matter in Vietnam. The US has committed to join hands with Vietnam in environmental treatment and health care at dioxin-infected sites and giving assistance to dioxin-infected people.

So far, the US has given $46 million to Vietnam to solve problems related to dioxin.

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