Upgrade of relations to further drive Việt Nam-US partnership: Ambassador

Vietnamese Ambassador to the US Nguyễn Quốc Dũng. — VNA/VNS Photo Đoàn Hùng

NEW YORK — The upgrade of the Việt Nam-US relations to a comprehensive strategic partnership for peace, cooperation, and sustainable development will create a new impetus and an open corridor for further promoting bilateral ties in the future, said Vietnamese Ambassador to the US Nguyễn Quốc Dũng.

In an interview granted to the Vietnam News Agency, he noted that since the two countries established their comprehensive partnership in 2013, bilateral relations have enjoyed breakthrough progress, generating many benefits for both peoples and contributing to peace, cooperation, and development in the region and the world.

Aside from the fruitful cooperation in war aftermath settlement, their trade has surged by four folds to more than US$130 billion in 2022 from $30 billion in 2013. The US’s direct investment in Việt Nam has approximated $12 billion as of 2023, and most major enterprises of the North American country is now present in the Southeast Asian nation.

About 1 million Vietnamese and US people travel between the two countries every year. There are nearly 30,000 Vietnamese students in the US at present. Besides, Vietnamese enterprises have also begun investing in the US, and the biggest among them is VinFast which is building an electric vehicle plant in North Carolina, Dũng said.

During US President Joe Biden’s official visit to Việt Nam in September, Party General Secretary Nguyễn Phú Trọng and the US leader agreed to upgrade the countries’ relations to a comprehensive strategic partnership for peace, cooperation, and sustainable development.

This important milestone has heralded a new period with an open framework and a new impetus for bilateral ties in multiple spheres, particularly economy – trade, science – technology, and people-to-people exchanges, the ambassador went on.

The joint statement on the comprehensive strategic partnership identified 10 main cooperation pillars, along with the targets, aspirations, and commitments of both sides, he said, perceiving that the first to be done is to disseminate the content and spirit of these agreements so that not only the Government or the National Assembly but localities, businesses, and people in both countries also understand, join in the implementation, consider cooperation possibility, seek suitable partners, and build cooperation plans.

He noted relevant agencies of Việt Nam and the US are working together to devise concrete plans and measures while their localities and enterprises are also starting to increase mutual visits and meetings to explore cooperation chances.

To properly realise the joint statement, Dung held that it is necessary to have a strong coordination mechanism, and periodically review and accelerate the implementation of agreements, including identifying bottlenecks to devise solutions.

Shortly after the upgrade of bilateral ties, Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính paid a working visit to the US and attended the high-level week of the 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly in September. In November, President Võ Văn Thưởng took part in the APEC Economic Leaders’ Week in San Francisco at the invitation of US President Biden.

During their trips, the diplomat said, PM Chính and President Thưởng had meetings with leaders of the US administration, Congress, scholars, and businesses, as well as representatives of the Vietnamese community there. At those events, the Vietnamese leaders strongly affirmed the country’s determination to effectively implement the comprehensive strategic partnership for the sake of both sides, along with the region and the world. This attracted attention and broad support from the US society for the two countries’ relations.

As part of the visits, ministries, sectors, localities, and enterprises of Việt Nam also engaged in activities to connect with US partners, resulting in the signing of tens of agreements. This came as a result of and also a step to carry out the newly established comprehensive strategic partnership.

The Vietnamese leaders’ recent visits to the US to attend the UN General Assembly session and the APEC Economic Leaders’ Week continued to demonstrate the foreign policy of independence, self-reliance, and diversification and multilateralisation of external relations, and affirm Việt Nam as a responsible partner determined to make practical contributions to the settlement of regional and global issues.

The upgrade of the Việt Nam-US relations will also have positive impact on these organisations’ activities, especially as they have considered coordination at regional and international forums an important pillar of their comprehensive strategic partnership, according to Ambassador Dũng. — VNS