A long bout with high fever forever altered the course of energetic Trinh Thi Vuong's life at the tender age of two years. The eldest daughter of a poor family with five children from the ethnic minority Rac Lay group in Vietnam's southern province of Binh Thuan, Vuong's left leg became completely paralyzed. She spent her childhood with a wooden crutch, which she accepted as first. But as she grew up, the crutch gradually became a heavy burden for Vuong.

HANOI, January 14, 2013 -- The U.S. Departments of State and Commerce and Vietnam Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Transport in collaboration with the U.S.-ASEAN Business Council hosted a Lower Mekong Initiative (LMI) Infrastructure Best Practices Exchange in Hanoi on January 14-15, 2013. The LMI Infrastructure Best Practices Exchange brought together senior U.S. and regional government officials and private sector representatives responsible for infrastructure development from the United States and the LMI partner countries of Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam.