“One of our highest priority is to reaffirm our commitment to theAsia-Pacific region,” Secretary Hillary Clinton said in her joint pressbriefing with Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Gia Khiemin Hanoi on Oct. 30.
“We not only want to deepen ourbilateral relations that we have with Vietnam and with other countriesin the region, but also to participate more actively in the regionalsituation like ASEAN,” Secretary Clinton told the press.
She said“the US has a deep, lasting relationship with the Asia-Pacific andwe want to be a good partner, friend and neighbor and one of the ways wecan demonstrate that is being an active participant in organisationlike EAS.”
For his part, Deputy PM and FM Khiem described the US’s participation in the EAS as an evidence for the growing ties betweenthe US and ASEAN.
“Together with Russia , the US ’sparticipation in the EAS will create an important motivation for theties between ASEAN and its partners,” Khiem said.
At thebriefing, the two FMs also talked about the two countries’ trade,education, healthcare ties and civil nuclear energy cooperation./.