Politics

Vietnam plays increasingly important role in Asia

Vietnam plays an increasingly-important role in the region, said Dr. Richard Cronin, Director of the Southeast Asia Programme of the Washington-based Henry L. Stimson Centre.
Vietnam plays an increasingly-important role in the region, said Dr.Richard Cronin, Director of the Southeast Asia Programme of theWashington-based Henry L. Stimson Centre.

The ASEAN chairmanship and its good relations with neighbouringcountries show Vietnam ’s role in the region, Cronin said, addingthat
is why Vietnam is placed in the centre of the USpolicies on Southeast Asia .

Present in Vietnamduring the wartime, Cronin expressed his pleasures at good developmentsin the Vietnam-US relations over the past time and reckoned that the twocountries could further cooperate as they have common interests.

Cronin, who is also an expert on the Mekong river issues,said the US is willing to share with Vietnam and other countriesin the river basin its lessons from building damps on rivers./.
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