Published: August 28, 2006
Vietnam Receives U.S. Grant To Improve Aviation Safety
By Peggy B. Hu, Washington File
Technical assistance will help Vietnam raise international safety rating
The U.S. Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) has awarded the Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam (CAAV) a technical-assistance grant to improve aviation safety infrastructure in Vietnam.
"In today's global economy, aviation infrastructure is essential to countries' economic development," USTDA Director Thelma J. Askey said in an August 24 press release. "This grant is designed to establish the aviation safety infrastructure that is necessary to support an expanded relationship with Vietnam as a result of its expected membership in the World Trade Organization."
The $351,372 grant is part of a larger, two-year effort to help Vietnam and the CAAV obtain Category I status under the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) International Aviation Safety Assessment Program (IASA). The IASA assesses a country's ability to adhere to international standards established by the United Nations' technical agency for aviation, the International Civil Aviation Organization.
Achieving Category I status under the IASA will permit direct access to the United States by Vietnamese air carriers and will facilitate greater investment by U.S. airlines and other aviation organizations in Vietnam's growing air services market, the USTDA said.
In September 2005, the agency also coordinated with the FAA to sponsor a symposium on aviation safety in the Asia-Pacific region.
The U.S. Trade and Development Agency advances economic development and U.S. commercial interests in developing and middle-income countries by funding various forms of technical assistance, feasibility studies, training, orientation visits and business workshops that support the development of a modern infrastructure and a fair and open trading environment.
For more information on U.S. policies, see Partnership for a Better Life and East Asia and the Pacific.
The text of the USTDA press release is available on the agency's Web site. More information on the IASA program is available on the Federal Aviation Administration's Web site.
Source: U.S. Department of State
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