Deputy PM receives U.S. ambassador

Deputy PM and FM Pham Binh Minh receives U.S. Ambassador to Viet Nam Daniel Kritenbrink, Ha Noi, January 8, 2019

At the reception,  Kritenbrink thanked the Government, ministries and sectors of Viet Nam for promoting the two countries’ connections. He noted that U.S. enterprises attach importance to the Vietnamese market and want to continue expanding their investment and business activities here.

The U.S. considers Viet Nam as a leading partner in the region and wishes to develop relations with the Southeast Asian country as well as ASEAN for peace, cooperation and development. It also hopes to strengthen collaboration in issues relating to the Mekong sub-region, the freedom and safety of navigation and aviation in the East Sea, and the implementation of the United Nations Security Council’s resolutions, Kritenbrink said.

The diplomat highlighted the upward trend of bilateral relations since the trip to the U.S. by Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and the visit to Viet Nam by President Donald Trump in 2017. 

He also hailed the outcomes of the meeting between U.S. Vice President Mike Pence and PM Phuc on the sidelines of the East Asia Summit in Singapore last November.

On this occasion, the ambassador conveyed President Trump’s New Year greetings to Party General Secretary and President Nguyen Phu Trong and PM Phuc.

In turn, Deputy PM Minh expressed his delight at the substantive progress in bilateral relations in 2018, noting frequent meetings and delegation exchanges, the dynamic development of economic ties with the U.S.’s exports to Viet Nam up 23% year on year as of late October, good coordination under the Trade and Investment Framework Agreement, and strides in security-defence cooperation and the settlement of war consequences. 

The Fulbright University Viet Nam project is also being implemented well, he added.

Viet Nam and U.S. have completed the project on environmental remediation of dioxin contamination at DaNang airport of Da Nang city and are carrying out a similar project in Bien Hoa airport of Dong Nai province.

Mr. Minh applauded the close coordination between the U.S. Embassy and the Vietnamese Foreign Ministry, and proposed that the two countries keep working closely in politics-diplomacy, economy-trade, security-defence and international issues.

By Vien Nhu