Vietnamese and US veterans held talks in Hanoi on March 16 as part of activities to increase mutual understanding and promote reconciliation between the two nations after the war.

Under the theme of “People-to-people exchange and Vietnam-US relations: Looking back on the past and forwards to the future,” the talks were jointly organised by the Vietnam Union of Friendship Organisations (VUFO), the Vietnam War Veterans’ Association of Vietnam (VWVA) and the Vietnam Veterans of America (VVA).

The event was attended by VUFO Vice President Tran Dac Loi, representatives of the VVAV, a VVA visiting delegation led by Vice President Jack Devine and a number range of experts, scholars, and representatives from US non-governmental organisations and enterprises.

During the forum, participants discussed the role of grassroots organisations in mitigating the destructive impacts of war as well as increasing mutual understanding and fostering reconciliation.

They spoke highly of the contributions that veterans’ agencies have made to address the impacts of Agent Orange/dioxin and the role of Vietnamese veterans in helping heal the wounds of war. They also underlined the need to boost cooperation between enterprises through people-to-people exchanges.

US participants said the overseas Vietnamese community has contributed a great deal to the promotion of relations between Vietnam and the US .

During the function, both sides also discussed measures to increase trade and investment relations between the two countries in the future./.