Video: VNA
The crucial foundation for the development of the relations is both sides’ affirmation of fundamental principles, such as respecting each other's independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity, and equal and win-win cooperation on the basis of international law.
“We share with Vietnam values such as respecting each other's political systems and respect for each other's sovereignty and territorial integrity,” said US Ambassador to Vietnam Marc E. Knapper.
On the basis of the increasingly open political relations, bilateral economic cooperation, trade, and investment exchanges have developed strongly.
The US has become the first export market of Vietnam to surpass the 100 billion USD mark, while Vietnam is now the 7th largest trading partner of the US. The US’s direct investment in Vietnam reached 11.73 billion USD, ranking 14th among the countries and territories investing in Vietnam.
The US continues to work closely with Vietnam in addressing war consequences, improving maritime law enforcement capabilities, and participating in UN peacekeeping operations.
The Vietnam-US comprehensive partnership has recorded comprehensive and substantive development, positively contributing to security, peace, cooperation, and development in the region and in the world.
Scholar highlights achievements in Vietnam-US ties
Talking to Vietnam News Agency correspondents in Washington, Andrew Wells-Dang said in the field of post-war recovery which he is now involved in at USIP, he acknowledged that Vietnam and the US have achieved significant milestones in the past decade. These include completing the dioxin remediation at Da Nang airport, initiating a cleanup of the largest dioxin hotspot at Bien Hoa air base in Dong Nai province, and expanding the US Agency for International Development (USAID)’s programmes to support those with disabilities related to Agent Orange and unexploded ordnance.
In 2021, the Vietnamese Defence Ministry and the US Department of Defence launched the Vietnam Wartime Accounting Initiative (VWAI), in which the USAID, Harvard University, and USIP contribute information and analysis to aid the search and identification of those missing in action.
Over the past decade, there has also been progress in bilateral political, economic and security relations. In his memoir "Nothing is Impossible," former US Ambassador to Vietnam Ted Osius mentioned Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong's visit to the White House in 2016. He believed that the visit had demonstrated that progress in Vietnam-US relations could be achieved although the two countries have different political systems, contributing to building trust at the highest political levels. Since then, both the Trump and Biden administrations have emphasized their support for a strong, prosperous, and independent Vietnam. The commitments of leaders from both political parties in the US could serve as a basis for the increasingly growing partnership between the two countries in the coming years, he said.
Another pivotal factor is that families who suffered losses and pain on all sides in the war have now become a pillar of connection between the two countries. When both sides acknowledge the past and build strong personal relationships, it can serve as a basis for a shared vision of the future, he said.
During the recent trip to the US state of Utah along with Vietnamese Ambassador to the US Nguyen Quoc Dung, he found that US companies are very interested in trade and investment in Vietnam. The US primary and higher education institutions also warmly welcome Vietnamese students to the US. After a slight decline due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of Vietnamese students in the US is now increasing again.
In addition to economy and education, the Vietnam-US comprehensive partnership also covers other pillars related to maritime security, climate and environment, human rights, war legacy, and defence.
The scholar believed that all these areas will keep growing. According to him, experts at the USIP are particularly interested in cooperating with Vietnam on peace and security issues regionally and globally. Vietnam has earned respect from countries on all sides in global conflicts, indicating its potential role as a mediator for peace.
Wells-Dang spent 20 years living in Vietnam, including 8 years in Hanoi and 12 years in Hoi An ancient town in the central province of Quang Nam. He gets married to a Vietnamese woman and returned to the US with his family in 2019. At the USIP, he and a group of experts on Asian affairs regularly build projects to address war legacy issues in Vietnam and hold thematic workshops on war legacy, aiming to heal war wounds and steer the US-Vietnam relations towards a future of peace and prosperity./.
Q.Hoa t.h / VNA
