December 14, 2016 — Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
An AJC delegation has concluded an eight-day visit to Myanmar and Vietnam. The group was led by AJC Asia Pacific Institute (API) Director Shira Loewenberg and API board member Cliff Goldstein.
In Myanmar the 15-member delegation met with, among others, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, Commander in Chief of the Defense Forces; Mr. U Aung Ko, Minister of Religious Affairs; and Lieutenant General Sein Win, Minister of Defense. The delegation also met with Israeli Ambassador Daniel Zonshine and U.S. Ambassador Scot Marciel.
In Vietnam the delegation met with Deputy Foreign Minister Dang Dinh Quy and other high-level Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials. The delegation met with U.S. Ambassador to Vietnam Ted Osius, and was hosted by Meirav Eilon Shahar, Ambassador of Israel to Vietnam, at her residence in Hanoi.
Topics discussed in both countries included (a) bilateral relations with Israel and the United States; (b) regional developments in Southeast Asia; and (c) support for Israel at the UN and other international fora.
“We are encouraged by positive developments in Myanmar and Vietnam and their growing closeness with the United States and Israel,” said Loewenberg. “AJC is committed to deepening our relationship with these strategically important Southeast Asia countries, and we are keen to work together on areas of mutual concern.”
The group spent Shabbat with the Jewish community in Yangon, and visited the Musmeah Yeshua Synagogue, Myanmar's only remaining synagogue, with community leader Sammy Samuels. In Vietnam, the group visited a Vietnam-Israel joint dairy demonstration and experimental farm
AJC maintains close ties with Burmese and Vietnamese officials across the United States and in Israel. API is chaired by Jeffrey E. Stone and directed by Loewenberg.
