Ambassador Nguyen Quoc Cuong visited Arkansas
Between December 6th and 7th, 2012, Ambassador Nguyen Quoc Cuong visited Arkansas and gave a speech on Vietnam-US relations as a William Clinton Distinguished Lecturer at the invitation of Clinton School of Public Service, University of Arkansas. Past events have seen former US President Bill Clinton, Brazilian President Fernando Cardoso, Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar, former US Secretaries of State Henry Kissinger and Madeline Albright as lecturers at the School. In his speech, Ambassador Nguyen Quoc Cuong reaffirmed the benefits to people of the two countries that the Vietnam-US normalization has brought about as well as to enhanced peace, stability and cooperation in Asia. He also made a highlight of the role of former President Bill Clinton, who was Arkansas Governor earlier, and other Arkansas leaders such as Senator William Fulbright in normalizing and enhancing bilateral relations.
During his visit, Ambassador Nguyen Quoc Cuong also met with Arkansas Governor Mike Beebe, Mayor of Little Rock Mark Stodola and Mayor of North Little Rock Patrick Henry Hays, visited the state's Agriculture University, research centers, non-governmental organizations, and was introduced to remote medical check-up and genetic technology in aquaculture.
In meetings with Ambassador Cuong, the first Vietnamese Ambassador to Arkansas, representatives expressed hope that the bilateral ties between Arkansas and Vietnam would be further enhanced, particularly in areas of education, health-care, agriculture and forestry.
