VZCZCXRO4774
RR RUEHHM
DE RUEHHI #0532/01 1610055
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 100055Z JUN 09
FM AMEMBASSY HANOI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 9727
INFO RUEHHM/AMCONSUL HO CHI MINH 5917
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHINGTON DC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 HANOI 000532 
 
STATE FOR EAP/MLS AND EEB/EPPD NSMITH-NISSLEY 
USDOC FOR 4431/MAC/AP/OPB/VLC/HPPHO 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ECON BEXP AMGT VM
 
SUBJECT: VIETNAM NOMINATIONS FOR 2009 AWARD FOR CORPORATE 
EXCELLENCE 
 
REF: STATE 34898 
 
¶1.  Summary:  Mission Vietnam is pleased to nominate Intel Vietnam 
and Boeing Corporation in the multinational enterprise category, and 
the Protec Helmet Company in the small-to-medium enterprise 
category, for the 2009 Secretary of State's Award for Corporate 
Excellence (ACE).  End Summary. 
 
------------- 
INTEL VIETNAM 
------------- 
 
¶2.  Mission Vietnam is pleased to nominate Intel Vietnam for the 
2009 Secretary's Award for Corporate Excellence in the multinational 
enterprise category.  While Intel Vietnam is strong in all eight 
award categories, this nomination highlights its extraordinary 
outreach efforts, including: 1) good corporate citizenship; 2) 
responsible environmental stewardship; 3) contribution to the rule 
of law; and, 4) contribution to local science and technology 
capacity. 
 
¶3.  Intel Vietnam began its operations in Vietnam in 1997 and was 
the country's first major foreign investor in high technology.  The 
company currently operates a sales and marketing office in Ho Chi 
Minh City (HCMC), and has almost completed construction on an 
assembly and test facility for the production of chips and computer 
parts.  Intel Vietnam has invested over a billion dollars in the 
construction of this facility, which, when complete, will provide 
jobs for more than 1,200 Vietnamese citizens. 
 
¶4.  Intel Vietnam has been an excellent corporate citizen and has 
made supporting the development of local Vietnamese communities a 
priority.  The company has spent more than $206,000 since 2007 (not 
including the significant funding it has appropriated each year for 
education programs here), giving back to the Vietnamese community 
through its ten corporate outreach programs, including building two 
playgrounds.  One playground was built for the Nguyen Minh Quang 
Primary School, another for the surrounding neighborhood, and the 
company will build a third in the summer of 2009.  The playgrounds 
have helped local children to improve their physical strength, 
practice teamwork and take part in healthy and positive activities. 
 Other programs in which Intel has participated include The Walk for 
Education, Job Fair & Career Orientation Days, and clean water 
programs for students at Hung Binh Junior High School. 
 
¶5.  Intel pursued two major environmental projects in 2008, the 
first of which involved a campaign to substitute plastic bags in 
HCMC with thousands of free, reusable cloth bags.  This project 
helped increase environmental awareness by encouraging individuals 
to reduce waste by utilizing reusable bags. 
 
¶6.  Intel Vietnam also signed a Letter of Cooperation with the World 
Wildlife Fund's (WWF) Greater Mekong Program in 2008.  This 
cooperation focuses on the conservation of natural resources in the 
Dong Nai River Basin, a critical water supply for HCMC residents. 
Additionally, Intel celebrated the 40th anniversary of its community 
outreach program, "Intel Involved," by planting nearly 500 trees 
covering 1.8 hectares in the Vinh Cuu Natural Reserve Zone, now 
referred to as the "Intel Forest."  The company's objective in 
pursuing this sustainable project is to provide long-term support 
for the Reserve Area, and raise public awareness regarding 
protection of the forest. 
 
¶7.  In addition to its environmental programs, Intel Vietnam Team 
Members encouraged key government leaders in HCMC to create and 
enforce road and helmet safety laws.  It is estimated that 30 people 
die each day in Vietnam in traffic accidents.  In addition to its 
work with government officials, Intel Vietnam collaborated with the 
Asia Injury Prevention Foundation (AIPF) to give more than 1,200 
helmets to students at the Long Thanh My Primary School in HCMC. 
The company also pledged to continue and expand its "Helmets for 
Kids" program, in addition to developing a Traffic Safety Training 
program.  Intel has contributed more than $50,000 to the program 
over the past three years. 
 
¶8.  Intel is also committed to increasing the capacity of 
Information and Communication Technology education.  Intel employees 
are training WWF and Vinh Cuu Natural Reserve staff to incorporate 
information technology into their daily work and on special projects 
such as conducting a rural sanitary survey, analyzing the survey 
data and implementing action plans for the coming years. 
 
¶9.  In early 2008, Intel donated 45 personal computers and a 
projector to Phuoc Binh High School.  Later that year, Intel sent a 
team of its IT engineers to the high school to conduct lab 
maintenance and teach IT classes for students and teachers to 
enhance their computing skills.  Intel Vietnam has pledged to 
 
HANOI 00000532  002 OF 003 
 
 
continue this project, and will sponsor another IT school lab in 
¶2009. 
 
------------------ 
BOEING CORPORATION 
------------------ 
 
¶10.  Mission Vietnam is also pleased to nominate the Boeing 
Corporation for the 2009 Secretary's Award for Corporate Excellence 
in the multinational enterprise category.  While Boeing is strong in 
all of the award categories, this nomination highlights its 
exceptional outreach efforts, including: 1) good corporate 
citizenship; 2) contribution to the overall development of society; 
and 3) compliance with international and local laws. 
 
¶11.  Boeing has been active in Vietnam since the United States and 
Vietnam restored diplomatic and trade relations in the 1990s, and 
has built a strong reputation in the community through its corporate 
outreach programs.  Over the years, Boeing has become increasingly 
active in Vietnam's education sector and has provided funding to 
restore and build eight state-of-the-art elementary and middle 
schools in some of Vietnam's poorest districts. 
 
¶12.  The company has spent approximately $600,000 to reconstruct 
multiple school buildings over the past two years, developing public 
partnerships with the Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation (VVAF), 
the East Meets West Foundation (EMW), the Global Community Service 
Foundation (GCSF), and the International Center (IC) in the 
management, construction and maintenance of the school building 
projects.  Boeing has worked with all three foundations in various 
capacities, and through these partnerships has been able to build 
the following schools: 
 
2006 ($200,000) 
------------------ 
Nguyen Van Troi Primary School (Central Vietnam) 
Trong Tien Hoc Hoi Ninh Primary School (North Vietnam) 
 
2007 - 2008 ($400,000) 
------------------------- 
Tan Tien Middle School (North Vietnam) 
Lac Quoi Primary School (South Vietnam) 
Thoi Son Primary School (South Vietnam) 
Xuan Tho 2 Primary School (South Vietnam) 
My Cat Primary School (Central Vietnam) 
Xuan Hoa Kindergarten (South Vietnam) 
 
¶13.  Boeing is committed to creating a long-term positive impact on 
the community and improving the education of generations of children 
through these projects.  Over 1,115 students and teachers have 
directly benefitted from Boeing's contributions, and thousands more 
will benefit from the reconstruction of nine additional schools, 
costing more than $750,000 in 2009-2010.  As Boeing's Senior Sales 
Director noted during one of the school dedication ceremonies: 
"Boeing recognizes that children are the future of Vietnam, and that 
an education has a strong positive impact on their development." 
 
¶14.  These new schools have been built using high quality materials 
constructed to withstand annual typhoons, and rain and wind storms. 
 
 
--------------------- 
PROTEC HELMET COMPANY 
--------------------- 
 
¶15.  Mission Vietnam is pleased to nominate the Protec Helmet 
Company for the 2009 Secretary's Award for Corporate Excellence in 
the small-to-medium enterprise (SME) category.  Protec, the world's 
only non-profit safety helmet company, began its operations in 
Vietnam in 2001.  Protec is a strong leader in all eight award 
categories. 
 
¶16.  Protec is a safety helmet production company and is 100% owned 
by the Asia Injury Prevention Foundation (AIP Foundation), a U.S. 
501(c)3 organization.  Protec reinvests all of its earnings from 
helmet sales to fund donations of safety helmets to children and to 
support the helmet and traffic safety awareness activities of the 
AIP Foundation.  These activities include road safety education in 
schools nationwide, public awareness campaigns and the "Helmets for 
Kids" helmet donation program.  Protec's vocal advocacy campaign 
played a vital role in convincing the Government of Vietnam to 
implement its mandatory helmet laws.  To date, compliance remains 
extremely high with many examples of lives saved due to helmet 
protection. Since the enactment of the law in December 2007, Protec 
has donated over 20,000 child helmets to needy children nationwide. 
This is in addition to the more than 350,000 helmets that have been 
distributed via "Helmets for Kids." 
 
HANOI 00000532  003 OF 003 
 
 
 
¶17.  Protec's advocacy to improve compliance with road safety laws 
has improved public knowledge of traffic rules and regulations. 
Additionally, through its safety helmet testing lab, Protec has 
helped the government of Vietnam develop helmet safety standards by 
testing helmets to weed out counterfeit and unsafe products.  Protec 
is home to Vietnam's first and, until recently, only lab of this 
type. 
 
¶18.  Protec also measured 5,000 Vietnamese heads, adult and 
children, in order to develop Vietnamese-specific head forms, as the 
standard helmet shape predominately used in the U.S. did not provide 
an optimal level of protection.  The result has been the creation of 
an Asian 'tropical' helmet that fits local heads perfectly. 
Realizing that many Vietnamese disliked wearing helmets in the 
summer heat, Protec designed its tropical helmets with ventilation 
slits to allow air to circulate, improving comfort and increasing 
the likelihood that motorbike users consistently wear the helmets. 
 
¶19.  In addition to its work on improving the safety of Vietnamese 
roads, Protec also goes to great lengths to provide excellent 
working conditions and benefits for its employees.  Protec has made 
a concerted effort to hire and train disabled and wheelchair-bound 
employees from the local community to work in the company's helmet 
production facility near Hanoi.  Protec has modified the factory to 
be wheelchair accessible, including assembly lines, and has received 
numerous awards from the Government of Vietnam recognizing the 
company's safe and healthy workplace.  The company currently employs 
23 such workers and provides all of them with high-quality 
wheelchairs for use in the factory and at home.  Protec recently 
provided one employee with a particularly acute disability with a 
motorized wheelchair valued at over $8,000.  All Protec employees 
benefit from free meals, 7-hour workdays and health benefits. 
 
¶20.  Protec has made a very positive economic impact on the local 
community also, particularly among the families of the company's 
disabled employees.  It is estimated that Protec's 200 employees 
directly support 1,000 other locals. 
 
¶21.  Protec also focuses on the environment and has made a 
determined effort to recycle all of the excess plastic from 
imperfectly produced helmets, while also recycling the water used in 
the helmet production process. 
¶22.  As a 100% U.S. enterprise, Protec strictly adheres to U.S. law, 
but just as importantly, teaches its staff the importance of U.S. 
values.  Protec has made great strides in cultivating a new way of 
thinking among its young work force and its suppliers with regard to 
the common local practice of handing out "gifts" and "commissions" 
(i.e. bribes).  Protec's regulations and internal policies require 
employees to refuse bribes and the company has convinced its 
suppliers to give the company a more substantial discount rather 
than hand out "commissions" and "gifts" to Protec employees. 
 
¶23.  This cable was coordinated with ConGen HCMC. 
 
PALMER