Ambassador Vinh made the statement at a recent meeting in Washington DC with Chairman of Asia and the Pacific subcommittee under the Foreign Affairs Committee in the Lower Chamber of the US Congress Ted Yoho. Vinh spoke highly of the support of the subcommittee and the Chairman for the Vietnam-US relations and updated him on the reform process and external policies of Vietnam.Ted Yoho expressed his delight at the fast and comprehensive development in the two nations’ relationship, particularly in economy and education-training. He praised the success of the Vietnamese community in the US in general and in Florida State in particular. The US Congress attaches importance to cooperation with the Asian and Pacific region, including ASEAN partners and Vietnam, he said.
Ambassador Pham Quang Vinh and Chairman of the subcommittee Ted Yoho
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It also supports cooperation in ensuring peace, security, stability and development in the region, including the East Sea issue, Ted said, hailing the role of Vietnam in the region, especially its hosting of the APEC Year 2017.
The two sides agreed to continue promoting the Vietnam – the US comprehensive partnership in a practical, stable and long-term manner while maintaining high-level delegation exchanges and strengthening bilateral and multilateral cooperation.
Vietnam will continue effectively implementing the commitments to free trade mechanisms to which it is a member, and creating favourable conditions for foreign businesses, including those from the US, Vinh said, adding that the country will also encourage domestic enterprises to invest in the US.
Regarding to the APEC Vietnam 2017, the ambassador said Vietnam will work closely with the US leaders and firms and those from other economies to create more impetuses for the development of the Asia-Pacific region, for the benefits and prosperity of the member economies and the whole region.
Putting the past behind and looking towards the future is the policy that Vietnam and the US have pursued over the past 20 years since the two nations formally declared normalisation of bilateral relations in 1995 and after over 40 years since war ended in Vietnam in 1975.
Particularly, after elevating the relations to a comprehensive partnership, the cooperation between the two countries have been expanded across security-defence, education, science-technology, and climate change adaptation.
Vietnam and the US are now reliable partners on Asia-Pacific and global issues. The two sides are closely working with partners from the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum, the East Asia Summit (EAS) and the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) for the sake of regional peace, security and prosperity, including navigational security and freedom in the East Sea, and the security of water resources and sustainable development in the lower part of the Mekong River.
A series of matters are scheduled to be under discussion during Obama’s trip to Vietnam such as the TPP, the removal of the lethal arms embargo on Vietnam, and the settlement of war consequences and detoxification of Agent Orange/Dioxin, as well as collaboration in economics-trade and security-defence.
Undergoing a lot of ups and downs, Vietnam and the US are standing on new opportunities to enhance the bilateral relations in the light of regional and global changes. Certainly, there are major differences in the political system and the perception of democracy, human rights and religious freedom between the two countries. It will not be easy to find a common voice, however, the Vietnam-US relations over the past two decades have proved that any relationship can be promoted if it is built on mutual respect and respect for differences.
