At 9:45 pm on August 24, at Hanoi’s Noi Bai airport, Vice President Harris stepped down from Air Force Two, starting her visit to Vietnam.

Photo: Pham Hai

Singapore and Vietnam were the two Southeast Asian countries selected for Harris' second overseas trip as the US Vice President.

She came to Hanoi when the city was implementing social distancing so it was a regret for many Hanoians not to see her motorcade on the street.

On August 25, from the JW Marriott hotel, the US Vice President traveled to the Presidential Palace and the headquarters of the Vietnamese Government to meet with Vietnamese leaders.

Photo: Nguyen Tri

At around 10:00 am, Vice President Harris arrived at the Presidential Palace to start her activities in Vietnam. She was welcomed at the Presidential Palace lobby by her Vietnamese counterpart Vo Thi Anh Xuan.

Harris expressed her honour as the first US vice president to visit Vietnam. The two sides discussed measures to promote bilateral relations in a number of important fields such as health, education and recovery after the Covid-19 pandemic.

Photo: Minh Nhat

At the meeting with President Nguyen Xuan Phuc, Harris emphasized that the relationship between the two countries has come a long way in a quarter of a century, achieving substantive results. The US continues to support a "strong, prosperous and independent" Vietnam.

President Nguyen Xuan Phuc said he highly appreciated the comprehensive partnership between Vietnam and the US over the past 25 years, which has been fostered by the two sides' efforts, in line with President Ho Chi Minh's wishes in his letter to President Truman 75 years ago.

The Vietnamese President affirmed that on the basis of an independent and self-reliant foreign policy, Vietnam always considers the US as one of its top important partners and wishes to promote the substantive and effective relations between the two countries.

After the meeting with President Nguyen Xuan Phuc, the US Vice President met with Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh at the Government headquarters. The two leaders mentioned the current issues of cooperation in responding to and combating the Covid-19 epidemic. Harris announced that the US would donate one million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine to Vietnam.

Photo: Reuters

The Prime Minister emphasized that Vietnam attaches great importance to relations with the US and wishes to continue developing the comprehensive partnership which is more substantive, effective and stable, for peace, cooperation and development in the region and the world. Vietnam considers the economy and trade as the pillar and driving force of Vietnam - US relations.

Photo: Minh Nhat

In the early afternoon, US Vice President Harris laid flowers at the memorial stele of Senator John McCain by the Truc Bach Lake. Mr. McCain made many contributions to Vietnam - US relations during the period of normalization of relations between the two sides.

Photo: Reuters

After that, she attended the opening ceremony of the Southeast Asia regional office of the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in Hanoi. Harris said the US is working with Southeast Asian countries to train health professionals, because "the Covid-19 pandemic will not be the last threat that we face".

Deputy Prime Minister Pham Binh Minh affirmed that the opening of the US CDC Office in Hanoi is very meaningful, which shows the high priority of the US in cooperation with the region in health and disease control.

Photo: Nguyen Tri

At the end of the day, the US Vice President attended the signing ceremony of the land lease agreement to build the new US Embassy in Hanoi. The new embassy building, with a budget of $1.2 billion, is inspired by Ha Long Bay and represents a forward-looking, dynamic, adaptive and transparent approach in the US foreign policy.

The new building will be located on the land that "used to be rice fields" in the early 2000s. The design of the 3.2ha embassy complex is inspired by the tradition of horticultural agriculture and rice production, and the topography of the Mekong Delta and the Red River Delta.

Photo: Nguyen Tri

On the morning of the third day, the US Vice President paid a visit to the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology at the same time with the arrival of 270,000 doses of Pfizer vaccine in a batch of one million doses of vaccine donated by the US in Hanoi. On August 25, 500,000 vaccine doses in this batch also landed in Ho Chi Minh City. The remaining vaccines were delivered to Hanoi on August 27.

Photo: Reuters

At a press conference on the afternoon of August 26 before the end of her visit to Vietnam, Harris pledged that the US would stand with Vietnam in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic.

Photo: Nguyen Tri

Photo: Reuters

Thanks to Vietnam's warm welcome, the Vice President hoped that this visit would be the beginning of a next chapter in the bilateral relationship between Vietnam and the US.

During meetings with Harris, Vietnamese leaders looked forward to welcoming the US Vice President to Vietnam again when the epidemic is under control. Harris also affirmed her desire to visit Vietnam again in the future.

Thanh Nam

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