Both US parties support Vietnam relations: officials

Le Hoai Trung, Chairman of the Communist Party Central Committee’s Commission for Foreign Affairs, paid a working visit to the U.S. from June 28 to July 2 at the invitation of the U.S. Department of State.

In Washington, the Vietnamese delegation had working sessions with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Samantha Power, Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Daniel Kritenbrink, Deputy Under Secretary of Defence for Policy Sasha Baker, President & Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the U.S.-ASEAN Business Council (U.S.-ABC). They also met with former U.S. officials and senators who support the development of Vietnam – U.S. relations.

During the meetings, both sides agreed that the Vietnam – U.S. Comprehensive Partnership has witnessed robust, positive, and comprehensive development across fields in recent years.

The U.S. officials affirmed that the U.S. considers Vietnam one of its key partners in the region, agreeing that the bilateral relations have enjoyed support from both the Democratic Party and Republican Party. They highly valued the recent contacts and meetings between the two sides, particularly the high-level phone talks between General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Nguyen Phu Trong and President Joe Biden in March 2023.

They emphasized the desire to maintain exchanges and meetings at all levels, especially at the high-level, during the year marking the 10th founding anniversary of the Comprehensive Partnership; and deepen the bilateral relations, especially in terms of economic cooperation, climate change response, green energy, education – training, tackling war consequences, people-to-people exchanges, and addressing global issues.

For his part, Trung suggested the two sides continue promoting high-level exchanges and meetings, improving the efficiency of cooperation via the Party, state and people-to-people diplomacy channels in line with the results of the phone talks between General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong and President Joe Biden.

In New York, the Vietnam delegation worked with UN Under-Secretary-General for Policy Guy Ryder, and had an online discussion with U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry. They also had meetings with long-standing friends of Vietnam in the U.S., and representatives of the U.S. Communist Party.

The U.S. friends and representatives of the Communist Party of the U.S. showed their pleasure with Vietnam’s renewal achievements and the path to socialism in the Southeast Asian nation, affirming that they always support Vietnam and the development of the Vietnam-U.S. relationship.

Trung also expressed his gratitude to U.S. friends who have always supported Vietnam in the struggles for national reunification in the past. He also proposed directions to strengthen cooperation with the U.S. Communist Party and socio-political organizations between the two sides in the coming time.

The Vietnamese official affirmed that Vietnam treasures the role played by the UN and will continue to actively and responsibly contribute to the organization’s activities.

Meanwhile, the UN official acknowledged and applauded Vietnam’s successful development, cooperation, and contributions within the framework of the UN, hoping that Vietnam will further enhance its important role in addressing global issues.