HCMC – Representatives of the U.S. Embassy in Vietnam on August 25 signed an agreement with the Hanoi Department of Natural Resources and Environment to lease a 3.2-hectare land lot in the city to build its new headquarters.

The signing ceremony was witnessed by U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, who is paying a visit to Vietnam, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Nguyen Quoc Dung and Hanoi Chairman Chu Ngoc Anh, the local media reported. The new headquarters that requires a total investment of US$1.2 billion will be built on the land lot in Cau Giay District which will be leased for 99 years. The new embassy’s headquarters will be inspired by Halong Bay, while its surrounding landscape will feature Vietnam’s tradition of rice farming such as topographies of the Red River and the Mekong Delta. It will also showcase the future-oriented, active, adaptable and transparent foreign diplomacy pursued by the United States, according to the U.S. Embassy in Vietnam. The new headquarters will be a symbol of the partnership of the two countries. The two sides reached a consensus on the location of the new headquarters of the U.S. Embassy in Vietnam in 2019. The Hanoi government also approved the land lease early this year. Experts from the U.S. Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations are responsible for the design, construction and facility management of the project. Meanwhile, EYP Architecture & Engineering is in charge of the architecture of the new headquarters.