WORKING WITH REPRESENTATIVES FROM THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, MR. JEFFREY PRESCOTT AND MR. IKE REED

Dr. Tran Dinh Lam attended the meeting among representatives from the U.S. Department of State with those from the HCMC University of Social Sciences and Humanities (USSH) on April 09, 2013.

Present at the meeting were also Assoc. Prof. Vo Van Sen – President of HCMC USSH, Bang Anh Tuan (MA) – Head of the Office of International Cooperation & International Project Development, and Dr. Le Thi Kim Thoa – Director of the Center for Ocean and Islands Studies. On behalf of the U.S. Consulate General in Vietnam, Nick Snyder and John Wang participated in the meeting.

The two representatives from the U.S. Department of State are Jeffrey Prescott and Ike Reed, who have been assistants for Southeast Asian affairs to the Vice President. They show great interest in issues of Southeast Asia as well as ocean and islands, hoping to establish a long-term relationship with the Southeast Asian region and propose more effective solutions to ocean and island matters.

In his speech at the meeting, Assoc. Prof. Vo Van Sen expressed his deep concern about how to avoid conflicts resulting in the instability of regional security. He also hopes to have negotiation and sharing among the involved countries regarding the East Sea’s issues.

“Conflicts leading to war will cause catastrophic consequences, which Vietnam wants to avoid”, emphasized Assoc. Prof. Sen.

Prof. Vo Van Sen – President of HCMC USSH presented a gift to one of the two representatives from the U.S Department of State.

The participants also had discussion about coordination between Southeast Asian countries, in which Vietnam hopes that neighboring countries such as Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia need to have information sharing and educational exchanges with Vietnam so that young people will have opportunities to enrich their knowledge. That will form a basis for the shared prosperity in the region.

More specifically, the shared way to development of the Southeast Asian region is the sharing of human resources and cooperative policies among the countries must be appropriate to guarantee the involved parties’ interests. Besides, it is important to have a comprehensive vision to avoid conflicts, damage and loss of human resources because of arms race.

Jeffrey Prescott and Ike Reed support the countries’ common spirit to maintain regional peace. Southeast Asian countries need to propose effective solutions to step to cement the long-lasting relationship such as simplifying the procedures for travelling and doing trade among the countries in the region, particularly travelling without visa.

Jeffrey Prescott is Special Advisor for Asian Affairs for Vice President Joe Biden. He joined the Obama Administration as a White House Fellow in 2010. Prior to that, he was Deputy Director of Yale’s China Center, and Senior Research Scholar and lecturer in law at Yale Law School. During a decade in China, he founded and led the Yale Center’s Beijing Office and was a visiting scholar at Peking University and Fudan University. He is a graduate of Yale Law School.

Ike Reed has been Director for Mainland Southeast Asian in Department of State’s Bureau of East Asia and Pacific Affairs since August, 2012. Prior to his current assignment, he served as a coordinator for Pacific Initiatives in the Office of Australia, New Zealand and Pacific Island Affairs (2011 – 2012), as a special advisor on the staff of International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) military command in Kabul, Afghanistan (2009 – 2010) and as an economic-political counselor at the U.S. Embassy in Singapore (2006 – 2009). He was the director for Southeast Asia on the staff of the National Security Council from 2004 to 2005. A career member of the Foreign Service, Reed’s other postings include assignments to the U.S. Mission in Geneva, U.S. Embassies in Jakarta and Bangkok, and the East Asian and Pacific Affairs Bureau at the State Department. He holds Master Degree from the National Defense University and Northern Arizona University and a Bachelor Degree from Ohio University.

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