Defence Minister Phan Van Giang (R) and US Ambassador to Vietnam Marc Evans Knapper at the meeting on June 3 (Source: VNA) The minister welcomed the new ambassador and wished him a successful tenure,contributing to promoting the ties between the two countries in general and thetwo defence ministries in particular.
Heaffirmed that the two countries and two defence ministries have maintained theirties through high-level visits despite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Accordingto the minister, defence cooperation between the two countries has continued tobe rolled out in the spirit of the 2011Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on Advancing Bilateral Defence Cooperationand the 2015 Joint Vision Statement on Defence Relations, producingpositive outcomes in a number of fields such as war aftermath settlement, dialogueand consultation, training, search and rescue, humanitarian support, and UN peacekeepingactivities.
Giang suggested that the ambassador pay attention to promoting defencecooperation between the two countries, particularly in war aftermath settlement,enhancement of peacekeeping capacity, and military medicine in epidemicprevention and control. He also asked the US side to speed up the pace of thedioxin remediation project at Bien Hoa airport.
Ambassador Knapper affirmed that bilateral relations in therecent past have continued to develop in line with the US-Vietnam comprehensivepartnership, adding that the US will continue to assist Vietnam in fields ofVietnam’s needs.
Hereiterated that the US supports an independent, strong and prosperous Vietnamand wants to promote bilateral relations on the basis of respect for each other’sindependence, sovereignty and political regime.
He pledged to work to promote bilateral defence cooperation during his tenurein Vietnam./.
VNA
