US looks to lift ties with VN to new height

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in the US capital city of Washington, D.C., May 22, 2019

Pompeo made the above statement on Wednesday at his talks with Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh who is on an official visit to the US from May 22-23. This is the pair's second face-to-face talks in less than three months.

During his visit, Deputy PM, FM Minh also had separate meetings with Charles Kupperman - Deputy National Security Advisor for President Donald Trump and Keith Kellogg - National Security Advisor to Vice President Mike Pence.

At the aforesaid talks and meetings, Minh affirmed Viet Nam attaches importance to and stands ready to work with the US side to consolidate and deepen the Viet Nam-US comprehensive partnership on the basis of respecting independence, sovereignty, political systems and interests of respective countries, contributing to peace, stability, cooperation and development in Asia-Pacific and the world.

Minh expressed his pleasure at the positive and comprehensive advancements of the bilateral ties, saying cooperation potential remains vast at both bilateral and multilateral aspects.

Both sides should sustain trade and economic cooperation, which has been the cornerstone of the relationship while enhancing cooperation in education, science and technology, security and defense and overcoming war consequences, Minh suggested.

Secretary Pompeo, as well as Charles Kupperman - Deputy National Security Advisor for President Donald Trump and Keith Kellogg - National Security Advisor to Vice President Mike Pence welecomed Minh to the US and spoke highly of the Viet Nam-US relationship over the past time.

The US side stressed the need to foster the exchange of delegations at all levels, especially high-level ones, continue to promote trade and investment linkages for mutual benefits, and support joint efforts in overcoming the war consequences, including the deployment of the dioxin cleanup project at Bien Hoa airport.

Regarding regional and international issues of common concerns, Minh highly valued the US’s role in Lower Mekong Initiative (LMI).

He urged the US side to intensify cooperation with Viet Nam at multilateral and regional mechanisms, especially the United Nations Security Council and during 2020 as Viet Nam will assume ASEAN Chairmanship.

For the East Sea issue, both sides reaffirmed their support for settlement of disputes through peaceful measures in line with international law, including the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, for full respect for diplomatic and legal processes, for full and effective implementation of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC) and for early conclusion of a Code of Conduct in the East Sea (COC).

The US side vowed to continue positive role in Indo-Pacific to maintain rule-based order, promote peace, stability, cooperation and development in this important region.