Deputy Assistant Secretary for South Asia, Patrick Murphy, and Chief of Protocol of the State Department, Sean Lawler, alongside representatives from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) member countries in Washington, joined the event.
Both Murphy and Lawler said that during Vinh’s over three years long tenure, the Vietnam-US comprehensive partnership witnessed notable developments across various fields, as reflected through the high-level visits by the two countries’ leaders.
They cited the visits to the US by General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee, Nguyen Phu Trong, in July 2015 and Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc in May 2017, in addition to the Vietnam visits by President Barack Obama in May 2016 and President Donald Trump in November 2017.
The bilateral ties in economy, trade, national defence and security, and regional cooperation have also been enhanced, they said.
The officials highlighted the US’s removal of its ban on the sale of lethal weapons to Vietnam, the first-ever visit to Vietnam by a US aircraft carrier in March 2018, the opening of Fulbright University in Vietnam, and projects on cooperation in settling the war consequences.
They thanked Ambassador Vinh for his active contributions to the achievements.
For his part, Vinh said he attaches significant importance to the Vietnam-US comprehensive partnership and expressed his hope that the bilateral relationship would continue to prosper in the future.
