Strengthen Scientific Collaboration With Foreign Governments: – FAS advocates scientific collaboration with foreign governments and international organizations to enhance the scientific foundation, information base, and enforcement decisions of U.S. trading partners. Thus helping to foster and enhance the ability of foreign governments to base regulatory decisions on sound science.

• China: World Trade Organization (WTO) Sanitary & Phytosanitary (SPS) Leadership Development Program (June 2007) - Fourteen Chinese officials from relevant ministries received training on the U.S. approach to meeting its obligations under the WTO SPS Agreement, with emphasis on food safety and sanitary issues for meat and meat products. The coursework included reviews of international standard setting bodies, agricultural biotechnology, and government-industry participation in ensuring food safety. Participants undertook several weeks of intense coursework involving all relevant U.S. regulatory agencies, followed by site visits to processing facilities in Denver and Indianapolis. The program will conclude with a visit to Chinese facilities in August to apply the SPS principles learned and observed in the United States.

• Vietnam: Executive Training in SPS Administration (June 2007) – A Vietnamese SPS Administration delegation completed two weeks of training on U.S. regulatory roles, USTR trade policy coordination, and the architecture of U.S. SPS Enquiry Point management for commenting on foreign SPS measures and elevating issues to the WTO SPS Committee. FAS will also seek to assist Vietnam's regulatory agencies to participate in the October 2007 meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, of the WTO SPS Committee and to attend a one-day workshop with all WTO Members on meeting WTO transparency obligations.

Vietnam is emerging as a major agricultural export destination for the United States. Total U.S. exports of forest, fishery and agricultural products to Vietnam for the first quarter of 2007 reached $96 million, nearly double the $55 million exported during the first quarter of 2006. Total U.S. exports of forest, fishery, and agricultural to Vietnam in 2006 reached a record $287 million.