A photo of the inauguration ceremony was shared by the US Embassy in Hanoi on the morning of January 4.

The ceremony took place more than two weeks after Mr. Knapper was approved by the US Senate to become the 8th US Ambassador to Vietnam since the two countries normalized diplomatic relations in 1995. His wife and son were present at the ceremony.

“Congratulations to Ambassador Marc Knapper on the oath of office as the New US Ambassador to Vietnam! The US supports a strong, independent and prosperous Vietnam,” the East Asia and Pacific Department said on its official Twitter page.

On December 18 (local time), the US Congress announced on its official website that the voting results in the US Senate had allowed Mr. Knapper to become the new US Ambassador to Vietnam. In April, Mr. Knapper was nominated by President Joe Biden to be the next ambassador to Vietnam, replacing Mr. Daniel Kritenbink.

Previously, during a hearing before the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee on July 13, 2021, Mr. Knapper said the US and Vietnam currently have a comprehensive partnership, and he hopes this relationship will soon be upgraded to a strategic partnership. According to him, there are four areas in which the two countries have common interests, including security, investment and trade, post-war settlement, and people-to-people exchanges.

Mr. Marc Knapper is a senior official of the US State Department. Before being approved as the new ambassador to Vietnam, he was Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Japan and Korea Affairs in the East Asia and Pacific Department at the US State Department and Chargé d’affaires at the US Embassy in Seoul (Korea). Before that, he held leadership positions at the Office of Indian Affairs, the Office of Japanese Affairs of the US State Department, the US Embassy in Iraq and the US Embassy in Japan.

Mr. Knapper graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Social Sciences from Princeton University (USA) and has a Master's degree from the US Army War College. He has won many awards and honors from the US Department of State, and is fluent in Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese.

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US Senate confirms Marc Knapper as ambassador to Vietnam

The US Senate on December 18 approved a flurry of President Joe Biden’s nominations for overseas diplomatic posts, including Marc Knapper, to be the US Ambassador to Vietnam.