Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh received US Ambassador to Vietnam Daniel Kritenbrink in Hanoi on January 8, highly valuing his guest’s role in promoting the two countries’ comprehensive partnership.

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 US’s exports to Vietnam up 23 percent 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 two sides have completed the project on environmental remediation of dioxin contamination at Da Nang airport of Da Nang city and are carrying out a similar project in Bien Hoa airport of Dong Nai province.

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

Minh applauded the close coordination between the US 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.

At the meeting, Ambassador Kritenbrink highlighted the upward trend of bilateral relations since the trip to the US by Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and the visit to Vietnam by President Donald Trump in 2017. He also hailed the outcomes of the meeting between US Vice President Mike Pence and PM Phuc on the sidelines of the East Asia Summit in Singapore last November.

The diplomat thanked the Government, ministries and sectors of Vietnam for promoting the two countries’ connections. He noted that US enterprises attach importance to the Vietnamese market and want to continue expanding their investment and business activities here.

The US considers Vietnam as a leading partner in the region and wishes to develop relations with the 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.

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