US-ASEAN Business Council Delegation Strengthens Ties with Vietnamese Health Agencies during its 2024 Health & Life Sciences Industry Mission to Vietnam

(Hanoi) On April 9 - 10, the US-ASEAN Business Council (USABC) convened a delegation of 11 leading American companies to Hanoi for its annual Health & Life Sciences (HLS) Industry Mission. This year’s mission comes at an important time, following the signing of the historic upgrade of bilateral relations between the United States and Vietnam to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership (CSP) in September last year.

The delegation was led by Ambassador Brian McFeeters, Senior Vice President & Regional Managing Director of USABC. During the engagement with the Ministry of Health (MOH) and health-related agencies, the delegation gained firsthand insight into the Vietnam Government’s plans and policies to promote investment, innovation, sustainability and stronger relations between Vietnam and leading American Health & Life Sciences sector. The delegation offered the U.S. private sector's full support as a dedicated partner, leveraging the Council’s Memorandum of Understandings (MoUs) with the MOH and Vietnam Social Security. ​

"The Minister and Vice Minister of Health held an extremely useful meeting with the USABC companies, discussing ways U.S. companies can provide the best pharmaceutical and medical device technology as quickly as possible as Vietnam continues to advance its medical sector.", said Ambassador Brian McFeeters

During the meeting with Minister of Health, Madam Dao Hong Lan, and other officials from the ministerial department, the Minister highlighted the bilateral cooperation between the United States and Vietnam in the health sector. Minister Lan emphasized that the U.S. businesses’ commitment and contribution have been playing an important role in strengthening the bilateral collaboration, particularly in pharmaceutical and medical devices. Minister Lan also stressed the importance of US-ABC as a bridge between the Vietnamese government and the U.S. private sector and welcomed policy inputs from the Council and its member companies for a better regulatory environment in Vietnam that facilitates the development of the nation’ pharmaceutical industry. ​

Recognizing the significance of Sustainable Healthcare Financing, US-ABC also organized the Panel Discussion on this important topic, to highlight how sustainable healthcare mechanisms offer promising pathways to achieving specific health care outcomes and contributing to broader demographic resilience. The Panel Discussion featured Dr. Dale Huntington (Senior Director, Health Care Systems, Johnson & Johnson), Dr. Rafael Chaves Cardona (Executive Director for Global Policy and Government Affairs, Organon), Assoc. Prof. Nguyen Lan Hieu (Director of Hanoi Medical University Hospital and Binh Duong Provincial General Hospital) and Dr. Nguyen Khanh Phuong (Director, Health Strategy & Policy Institute).

In addition to the Minister of Health, the delegation also met with Vietnamese senior government officials including: ​ ​ ​

· ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Vice Chairman of National Assembly Committee on Social Affairs Nguyen Hoang Mai

· ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Deputy Director General of the Vietnam Social Security Dao Viet Anh

· ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ NIHE Director, Prof. Dr. Phan Trong Lan

Companies participating in the 2024 Vietnam HLS Mission included Illumina, Johnson & Johnson, MSD, Novartis, Organon, Pfizer, SC Johnson & Son, Tilleke & Gibbins, Viatris, Zuellig Pharma, among others.