The visit by Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong to the US,scheduled for July 6-10, the first time a General Secretary of theCommunist Party of Vietnam has made a visit to the US, is of historicsignificance.
The visit takes place at a timeimportant to Vietnam-US relations, as the two countries mark the 20thanniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties.
During the visit, the two countries’ highest leaders will discussfuture orientations for further developing their bilateral relations anddeepening the Vietnam-US comprehensive partnership, with a focus on thefields of investment, trade expansion and facilitation,education-training, science-technology, defence-security among others.
On the occasion, the Vietnamese Party leader will meet withSecretary General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon to look for measurespromoting the ties between Vietnam and the UN, and other cooperationmechanisms within the UN.
Vietnam and the US normalised theirrelationship on July 12, 1995. The two countries signed a BilateralTrade Agreement (BTA) in 2000. They set up their comprehensivepartnership during President Truong Tan Sang’s official visit to the USin July 2013.
In July this year, former US President BillClinton, who officially declared the normalization of the relationsbetween the two nations 20 years ago, has been in Hanoi and Ho Chi MinhCity to attend celebrations of the anniversary. This is a manifestationof the good will and trust in looking towards a brighter future of theVietnam-US ties.
Over the last 20 years, the bilateral ties have made rapid and positive progresses in many fields.
Theexchange of high-level visits and regular meetings between the twocountries at multilateral forums contributed to strengthening mutualunderstanding and build trust between the two sides. Through visits,meetings and dialogues, both sides affirmed their desire to build apositive, friendly and constructive partnership, all-around cooperationon the basis of mutual respect and mutual benefits.
The twocountries have signed a number of documents and agreements, laying thefoundation for stronger economic, trade and investment links. Two-waytrade experienced a surge and became a key cooperation field in recentyears, posting an annual average increase of over 20 percent in the lastthree years, and reaching 36 billion USD in 2014.
The US hasbecome Vietnam’s largest export market this year. At the same time, thecountry’s total direct investment in Vietnam has come to nearly 11billion USD, putting it at the seventh place among the biggest foreigninvestors in Vietnam at the moment.
At present, nearly 17,000Vietnamese students are studying in the US. The project to establish aUS-modeled university (Fulbright University) in Vietnam is beingimplemented. The US also continues to grant scholarships to Vietnamesestudents through the Fulbright scholarship programme and the VietnamEducation Foundation (VEF).
Medical cooperation is another keyarea, with the US selecting Vietnam as a priority country in theemergency supporting programme of HIV/AIDS prevention.
The two sides also work closely in implementing a project of climatechange adaptation in mountainous and delta areas in 2013-2017 with aninitial aid committed by the US at 17 million USD.
Recently, the US remarkably increased its efforts and expenses toaddress war consequences in Vietnam, prominently a project to detoxifyDa Nang airport and others to remove unexploded ordnances.
Tiesin security-defence have also been stepped up. Since 2010, the twocountries have conducted defence policy dialogues at deputy ministeriallevel. In 2011, the two countries signed a memorandum of understandingon bilateral defence cooperation promotion.
The twocountries also teamed up in rescue and search. In June this year, thetwo countries’ Defence Ministers inked a joint vision statement onbilateral defence relations.
They also closely coordinated atinternational forums such as the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation(APEC) forum, the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) and the ASEAN DefenceMinisters’ Meeting Plus (ADMM+).
Regarding the EastSea issues, the US supports the policy of settling disputes throughpeaceful measures with respect for international law, including the1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), the Declaration onConduct of Parties on the East Sea (DOC).
The USvisit by Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong is another step inimplementing the foreign policy of peace, independence, friendship,cooperation, multilateralization and diversification, deepeningpartnerships with other countries for the interest of each country andnation while contributing to peace, stability, cooperation anddevelopment in the region and the world as a whole.-VNA
The visit takes place at a timeimportant to Vietnam-US relations, as the two countries mark the 20thanniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties.
During the visit, the two countries’ highest leaders will discussfuture orientations for further developing their bilateral relations anddeepening the Vietnam-US comprehensive partnership, with a focus on thefields of investment, trade expansion and facilitation,education-training, science-technology, defence-security among others.
On the occasion, the Vietnamese Party leader will meet withSecretary General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon to look for measurespromoting the ties between Vietnam and the UN, and other cooperationmechanisms within the UN.
Vietnam and the US normalised theirrelationship on July 12, 1995. The two countries signed a BilateralTrade Agreement (BTA) in 2000. They set up their comprehensivepartnership during President Truong Tan Sang’s official visit to the USin July 2013.
In July this year, former US President BillClinton, who officially declared the normalization of the relationsbetween the two nations 20 years ago, has been in Hanoi and Ho Chi MinhCity to attend celebrations of the anniversary. This is a manifestationof the good will and trust in looking towards a brighter future of theVietnam-US ties.
Over the last 20 years, the bilateral ties have made rapid and positive progresses in many fields.
Theexchange of high-level visits and regular meetings between the twocountries at multilateral forums contributed to strengthening mutualunderstanding and build trust between the two sides. Through visits,meetings and dialogues, both sides affirmed their desire to build apositive, friendly and constructive partnership, all-around cooperationon the basis of mutual respect and mutual benefits.
The twocountries have signed a number of documents and agreements, laying thefoundation for stronger economic, trade and investment links. Two-waytrade experienced a surge and became a key cooperation field in recentyears, posting an annual average increase of over 20 percent in the lastthree years, and reaching 36 billion USD in 2014.
The US hasbecome Vietnam’s largest export market this year. At the same time, thecountry’s total direct investment in Vietnam has come to nearly 11billion USD, putting it at the seventh place among the biggest foreigninvestors in Vietnam at the moment.
At present, nearly 17,000Vietnamese students are studying in the US. The project to establish aUS-modeled university (Fulbright University) in Vietnam is beingimplemented. The US also continues to grant scholarships to Vietnamesestudents through the Fulbright scholarship programme and the VietnamEducation Foundation (VEF).
Medical cooperation is another keyarea, with the US selecting Vietnam as a priority country in theemergency supporting programme of HIV/AIDS prevention.
The two sides also work closely in implementing a project of climatechange adaptation in mountainous and delta areas in 2013-2017 with aninitial aid committed by the US at 17 million USD.
Recently, the US remarkably increased its efforts and expenses toaddress war consequences in Vietnam, prominently a project to detoxifyDa Nang airport and others to remove unexploded ordnances.
Tiesin security-defence have also been stepped up. Since 2010, the twocountries have conducted defence policy dialogues at deputy ministeriallevel. In 2011, the two countries signed a memorandum of understandingon bilateral defence cooperation promotion.
The twocountries also teamed up in rescue and search. In June this year, thetwo countries’ Defence Ministers inked a joint vision statement onbilateral defence relations.
They also closely coordinated atinternational forums such as the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation(APEC) forum, the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) and the ASEAN DefenceMinisters’ Meeting Plus (ADMM+).
Regarding the EastSea issues, the US supports the policy of settling disputes throughpeaceful measures with respect for international law, including the1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), the Declaration onConduct of Parties on the East Sea (DOC).
The USvisit by Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong is another step inimplementing the foreign policy of peace, independence, friendship,cooperation, multilateralization and diversification, deepeningpartnerships with other countries for the interest of each country andnation while contributing to peace, stability, cooperation anddevelopment in the region and the world as a whole.-VNA
