U.S Vice President Kamala Harris  on August 25 witnessed the signing of the lease for the new U.S embassy compound during her visit to Vietnam, representing a significant milestone in the United States’ important diplomatic relationship with Vietnam.

Chargé d’Affaires, a.i. Christopher Klein and Director of Hanoi City Department of
Environment and Natural Resources Bui Duy Cuong at the signing ceremony
at the witness of Vice President Kamala D. Harris

The new U.S. Embassy campus planned for Hanoi is a modern urban landscape that also reflects the city’s culture and vitality. The new Embassy will ensure the U.S. platform for diplomacy in Hanoi is positioned to support — and be a symbol of — cooperation, friendship, and progress for many years to come.

Uniquely situated on an active boulevard, the 8-acre campus transitions from the bustling city to the tranquility of the adjacent Cau Giay Park. Inspired by Hạ Long Bay in northeast Vietnam, the building materials portray the forward-looking, reflective, and transparent approach to U.S. diplomacy. Inspired by the agricultural traditions of farming and rice production, as seen in the landforms from the Mekong and Red River delta regions, the landscape connects the site with its own history as an active rice paddy field as recently as the early 2000s.

The Embassy campus is situated in the Cau Giay District of Hanoi, a growing commercial and residential neighborhood. The new location establishes the Embassy in an emerging area of regeneration that boasts prestigious universities, such as the Vietnam National University, and will be home to a new diplomatic complex.

The new Embassy will demonstrate leadership in environmental sustainability and climate resilience. A healthy and energy-efficient interior will be ensured by using sustainable materials that feature high recycled content, low embodied carbon, and low volatile organic compounds (VOCs). 

A major goal of the embassy’s design team is to incorporate both U.S. and Vietnamese design elements, including artwork by American, Vietnamese, and Vietnamese-American artists. The Embassy design will become a concrete symbol of the important relationship between the United States and Vietnam.

Signing today’s lease agreement is another important step towards realizing the goal of opening a new Embassy in Hanoi. Having now completed site selection and planning, the project is in design to incorporate the architectural elements, safety needs, and size requirements needed to provide a safe, secure, modern, and resilient space for U.S. agencies and staff to carry out their work. A ground-breaking ceremony will take place at an appropriate time in the future.  

Following the normalization of U.S.-Vietnam diplomatic relations in 1995, the Government of Vietnam committed to providing the United States a site for an Embassy campus in Hanoi. Continuing to build on our growing partnership, the two countries reached an agreement on the current new Embassy site in 2019. Earlier this year, the Hanoi People’s Committee granted approval for the United States to lease the site, issuing a Land Lease Decision for 99 years.