As part of the 17th ASEAN Summit, Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Pham Gia Khiem and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton chaired an international press conference on October 30.
The conference concentrated on the bilateral relationship between Vietnam and the US and US participation in the East Asia Summit.
Before answering questions, Deputy Prime Minister Khiem and Secretary of State Clinton witnessed the signing of cooperative agreements including the contract for Vietnam Airlines to buy B787-9 aircraft from the US Boeing Company and a commitment between the Vietnam Ministry of Information and Communication and the US Microsoft Corporation to improve the Vietnam’s information technology and protect intellectual property rights.
At the conference, Mr Khiem said that the meeting with his US counterpart gained significant results. The two sides agreed on many ideas to boost ties between the two countries in the future and discussed many international and regional issues.
Both officials agreed that the two countries continue to maintain a good relationship and ensure regional stability and prosperity.
After 15 years of normalised relations, the two countries now have close cooperation in many fields including the economy and trade. Two-way trade turnover between them has jumped from US$450 million to US$15 billion.
Vietnam and the US have also worked on health issues including controlling the spread of diseases, HIV/AIDS and resolving the consequences of Agent Orange.
The two countries have seen great improvement in educational cooperation and more than 13,000 Vietnamese pupils and students are currently studying in the US. Both countries also share interests in marine security and disaster search and rescue, and their two armies have agreed to work on natural disaster aid.
The last flood in central Vietnam has caused great losses and the US Secretary of State expressed her sympathies and said that the US and Vietnam will continue many cooperative programmes in the spirit of Trans-Pacific partnership.
She said that her second visit to Vietnam shows that the US values its relationship with Vietnam and its interests in the Southeast Asia and East Asia regions.
Mrs Clinton thanked Vietnam for inviting Russia and the US as distinguished guests to join in the East Asia Summit and said that the US President will attend the event.
Answering a VOV reporter’s question on why the US joins the East Asian Summit while it already takes part in the APEC and ARF summits, the US Secretary of State said that one of the highest priorities when Mr Obama became President was to boost relations with the Asia-Pacific region. The US is situated in a special location between the Pacific and the Atlantic Oceans and its wants to join dynamic regional institutions including the East Asia Summit. The US believes that the Summit will be an important forum for politics and security in the Asia-Pacific region and the place where the leaders of many countries meet and discuss important issues.
http://english.vovnews.vn/Home/Press-conference-on-VietnamUS-cooperation-held-in-Hanoi/201010/120959.vov
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