US Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks at the press briefing in Hanoi on April 15. (Photo: VNA) Talking to the press on April 15,Blinken, who has been on an official visit to Vietnam from April 14 to 16, said that he was in Vietnam at the behest of President Joe Biden to further broaden anddeepen that partnership following the President’s phone talks with Party GeneralSecretary Nguyen Phu Trong last month and building on earlier high-levelvisits, including from Vice President Kamala Harris, Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin, US TradeRepresentative Katherine Tai, USAID Administrator Samantha Power, and recently membersof the Congress.
Throughout his engagements on April15, he focused on how the US can continue to support Vietnam’s success – whichis good for the Vietnamese people, Americans, and the entire region.
He stressed the two countries arecooperating for common interests, and that the US believes by supportingVietnam’s wishes, it can promote its own goals, from creating jobs for peopleand enhancing the strength of US enterprises to making more strides to resolvethe climate crisis and prevent pandemics.
The two sides also discussed mutual respect for the centrality of theAssociation of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the close partnership viaregional economic frameworks, including the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC)that the US hosts this year and the Mekong - US partnership.
The US highly valued Vietnam’sindispensable role in the settlement of development challenges in the MekongRiver region, Blinken went on, noting that his country is developing the bilateraleconomic partnership to help Vietnam boost important reforms in the fields oflabour, intellectual property, and trade fairness, thus turning the SoutheastAsian country into one of the fast-growing economies in the world.
The US believes that Vietnam can achieve its goal of becoming a connected andhigh-income country by 2045 by pursuing growth that lifts all communities whilebuilding resilience to adapt to climate change, according to the diplomat.
He added the US is activating thenew bilateral climate initiatives that Vice President Harris announced duringher visit to Vietnam in August 2021. It is capitalising on such regionalframeworks as the Just Energy Transition Partnership that Vietnamrecently joined, in which it will invest 15.5 billion USD in helping Vietnamachieve net zero emissions by 2050 and carry out the Japan - US - Mekong PowerPartnership.
The US is also cooperating in assisting Vietnam to build the public healthcapacity, including the establishment of a CDC Vietnam country office, theSecretary of State said, describing the close and fruitful cooperation amid theCOVID-19 pandemic as a vivid demonstration of their ties in the period needingmutual assistance most.
Hereaffirmed the US’s respect to Vietnam’s political institutions, independence,sovereignty, and territorial integrity, as well as support for a strong, independent,resilient, and prosperous Vietnam.
The diplomat also underscored the US’s commitment to address war consequences, includingjoint works to clear unexploded ordnance and the new 73 million USD contract totreat contaminated soil and sediment at Bien Hoa Air Base.
Blinken held that the twocountries have made another step forwards to strengthen relations by breakingground for the new US embassy campus, which once completed, will matchthe vision for the future of the bilateral partnership.
The official expressed his belief that the Vietnam - US ties will develop morestrongly in the coming decades./.
VNA
