
Washington (VNA) – Vietnamese Ambassador to the US Ha Kim Ngoc attended a meetingof the ASEAN Committee inWashington, the first held under Vietnam’s chairmanship, on February 24.
Ngoc briefedthe participants on majoroutcomes of the ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting (AMM) Retreat which took place in the resort city of Nha Trang in Khanh Hoa, on January 17 –18.
Ambassadors ofother ASEAN nations congratulated Vietnam on successfully hosting the AMMRetreat and highly valued the country for fostering common initiatives andeffort to address regional and global issues, particularly the outbreak of the acute respiratory disease caused by SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19).
The ambassadorslater discussed preparations for the ASEAN-US Special Summit, to be held in Las Vegas on March 14, sayingthey appreciate the US for hosting the meeting with leaders of the Greater Mekong sub-region as well as varioussideline events to promote the bilateral cooperation in Mekong region,technology, energy and women’s empowerment.
They askedLaos, the current coordinator for ASEAN-US relations, to continue maintainingclose communication with the US side in order to provide excellent reception,logistics services and contents for the summit.
At themeeting, the ASEAN Committee in Washington also had discussions with ActingDeputy Under Secretary for International Trade Diane Farrell and Acting DeputyAssistant Secretary for Asia Laurie Farris from the US Department of Commerce.
Farrell highlyspoke of ASEAN’s position in the regional economic structure, saying the USgovernment wants to maintain fair and open trade relations with ASEAN nationsfor the regional development and prosperity.
The US Departmentof Commerce looks to step up cooperation with ASEAN in the development of a network of smart cities and harmonisation of standards to ensure thecompatibility of ASEAN exports to the US and increasing ASEAN investment flow to the US as part of theSelectUSA programme./.