VUFO President Phan Anh Son reviewed major strides in the bilateral relationship across all spheres after nearly 30 years of normalising relations and establishing diplomatic relations, and 10 years of establishing the comprehensive partnership.
In the fields of politics and diplomacy, many high-level visits have been made, he said, noting that each of them marked new steps forward and opened up new cooperation stages.
Notably, two-way trade stood at 123 billion USD last year, up more than 270 times from 1995, and the figure reached 61 billion USD in the first seven months of this year, he continued.
Son also took note of positive outcomes in bilateral cooperation in national defence and security, especially in the settlement of war consequences, handling non-traditional security challenges, and ensuring security and safety of navigation and overflight in the East Sea/South China Sea.
In culture, and education-training, he said the two countries have launched more than 10 exchange programmes, and the number of Vietnamese students in the US has grown to nearly 30,000 this year from only 800 in 1995.
Over the past more than 10 years, the US has provided Vietnam with aid worth over 1.8 billion USD and held many cooperation activities in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, he said, adding that the two sides have also coordinated increasingly closely at regional and global forums, and in addressing many global issues.
People-to-people exchange activities have changed in both content and methods of operation, contributing to creating a favourable, broad and solid social foundation for the relations between the two states to further develop, he continued.
Son laid emphasis on the upgrade of the relationship to a comprehensive strategic partnership for peace, cooperation and sustainable development on September 10, 2023, which, he said, has opened up a new period for the bilateral friendship and cooperation.
He attributed such achievements to continuous efforts by both nations in “shelving the past, overcoming differences, promoting similarities and looking toward the future.”
For his part, US Ambassador Marc E. Knapper stressed that the comprehensive partnership has grown fruitfully over the past decade, as marked by the Vietnam visit by President Joe Biden this year, and the establishment of the comprehensive strategic partnership for peace, cooperation and sustainable development.
The US is fully confident in and respects Vietnam's political system and territorial integrity, and is proud to be Vietnam's partner and work together with the country to achieve common goals and ensure security and prosperity for their people, he said.
