Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh received former US Secretary of State John Kerry in Hanoi on January 16.

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh (R) receives former US Secretary of State John Kerry in Hanoi on January 16

Minh expressed his delight that his meeting with Kerry, who is in Vietnam to attend the Vietnam Economic Forum 2019, coincided with the 25th anniversary of the normalisation of Vietnam-US trade relations.

He highly valued his guest’s decades-long efforts and contributions to the promotion of the bilateral ties while serving as US Secretary of State and as a senator. He also welcomed Kerry’s continued attention to Vietnam.

Briefing his guest on the recent developments in the Vietnam-US relationship and plans to advance the two countries’ connections in the coming time, Minh applauded the recent progress in bilateral cooperation in education, environmental protection, and water resources development, in particular the projects of the Fulbright University Vietnam and the Lower Mekong Initiative.

The Deputy PM asked Kerry to continue supporting development cooperation, including in economy-trade-investment, education, science-technology, the settlement of the impact from the war, and climate change response.

For his part, Kerry voiced his satisfaction at the substantive development of the Vietnam-US comprehensive partnership, pledging that in whatever positions he holds, he will make non-stop efforts to help enhance the two countries’ relations.

He thanked the Vietnamese Government and Foreign Ministry for supporting educational cooperation projects, including the Fulbright University Vietnam, expressing his belief that these projects will contribute to Vietnam’s development and bilateral relations in the future.

The former US Secretary of State also emphasised the importance of clean and renewable energy to the sustainable socio-economic development of both countries. He said he is ready to continue assisting Vietnam in renewable energy development and the attraction of external resources to this sector.

He added that he will share Vietnam’s interests with the US side and support cooperation activities to the benefit of both nations.

The same day, head of the Party Central Committee’s Economic Commission Nguyen Van Binh, who is also a Politburo member and Secretary of the Committee, had a meeting with Kerry.

For the Vietnam Economic Forum 2019, the US guest proposed stronger cooperation in the energy sector between the two countries and suggested setting up a joint venture to help Vietnam with building up its energy infrastructure. He promised continued efforts to make this idea come true, thus contributing to local sustainable development.

Meanwhile, Binh affirmed that Vietnam will press on with developing renewable energy and will continue to welcome US investment in this field. –VNA