Cooperation opportunities with Fondation Rose et Blanc, Republic of Haiti

In the afternoon of December 4^th, 2018, the President of Vietnam National University of Agriculture (VNUA), Prof. Dr. Nguyen Thi Lan, chaired a meeting with the former First Lady of the Republic of Haiti, Mrs. Sophia Martelli, the President of Fondation Rose et Blanc (FREB), the Haitian Ambassador to Vietnam to discuss about potential cooperation opportunities and signing the Memorandum of Understanding between VNUA and FREB. Representative leaders of the International Cooperation Office and the Training Management Office also attended the meeting.

At the meeting, the representative of the International Cooperation Office introduced about VNUA’s history, training capacity  as well as cooperation highlights with international partners in recent years. Each year, the University is receiving hundreds of students from Laos, Cambodia, Mozambique, and Angola through the agreements between Vietnam’s government and the governments of these countries. Through their introduction remarks, Mrs. Sophia Martelli and the Ambassador showed their willing to establish an official relationship with VNUA, starting with scholarships offered to Haiti students to study at VNUA.

Following this, the former First Lady of the Republic of Haiti, Mrs. Sophie Martelli, also introduced about Fondation Rose et Blanc, which was founded to approach the common goal of “Reconstructing Haiti”, improving the society and economy of Haiti. The idea of a social activist organization was introduced by Mrs. Martelli 23 years ago. However, only until September, 2008 had this idea been accepted and the organization named “Fondation Rose et Blanc” was founded, officially connecting with government’s organizations, non-government organizations, and the private sector to improve the socio-economic conditions of the Haitians. The Fondation Rose et Blanc has conducted various social and humanity activities such as holding social programs supporting natural disaster consequences, improving the poor’s living conditions, encouraging education, and supporting humanity projects with the poor.

To build the foundation for future cooperation, during this visit, the University and the Fondation Rose et Blanc, founded by Mrs. Martelli signed a Memorandum of Understanding with following contents: (1) Exchange of academic staff, administrative staff and students; (2) Plan for joint research; (3) Exchange of academic information and publications; and (4) Other academic exchanges to which both Parties agree. Under this cooperation, the University and FREB will together construct a scheme of human resource training for Haiti, seeking for opportunities and scholarships, which will partly help Haiti enhancing its economy and social conditions. VNUA may provide some scholarships for excellent students to study short-term training courses or internships, or pursue undergraduate and master training programs at VNUA.

At the end of the meeting, Mrs. Martelly thanked the President and the University for such a warm welcome and showed her happiness at the fruitful discussion results. Hopefully, the University and Fondation Rose et Blanc will promote cooperation activities to enhance the human resource of Haiti.