President Tran Dai Quang holds talks with U.S. President Donald Trump

 

President Tran Dai Quang and President Donald Trump discussed measures to enhance the relations between Vietnam and the US in a more practical and effective manner during their talks in Hanoi on November 12.

 

 

President Quang affirmed Vietnam’s consistent external policies of independence, self-reliance, and diversification and multilateralisation of international relations while proactively integrating into the world.

 

He hoped the Vietnam-US relations will continue to grow based on respecting the respective independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity and political institution.

 

President Trump expressed his pleasure to visit Vietnam for the first time and said the US attaches great importance to the friendship and comprehensive cooperation with Vietnam.

 

The two Presidents agreed that the establishment of the bilateral comprehensive partnership in 2013 lays an important foundation for Vietnam and the US to reinforce their ties.

 

Promoting economic, trade and investment ties will continue to be a focus in the bilateral comprehensive partnership in the time ahead, contributing to growth and employment in both countries.

 

Vietnam and the US agreed to increase high-level delegation exchanges and promote the efficiency of existing cooperation mechanisms while considering the establishment of new appropriate ones.

 

The two sides will step up cooperation in other fields such as the settlement of post-war consequences, people-to-people exchanges, science-technology, education-training, and security-defense.

 

President Quang thanked the US for its prompt assistance for Vietnamese flood victims and hoped the US will strengthen coordination with Vietnam in humanitarian aid activities and natural disaster relief in the coming time.

 

Quang and Trump welcomed the two countries’ efforts to complete the detoxification project at Da Nang airport and plan to soon implement similar ones at Bien Hoa airport and other locations.

 

They affirmed that Vietnam and the US share common benefits in maintaining peace, stability, cooperation and development as well as respect international law in the Asia-Pacific region, while agreeing to increase coordination at regional and international forums.

 

President Quang thanked the US for supporting Vietnam in hosting successfully the APEC Year 2017 and proposed the US push ahead with relations with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

 

President Trump congratulated Vietnam on the successful organisation of the APEC Economic Leaders’ Week 2017 and highly valued the role of Vietnam as the host of the event.

 

He affirmed the US will continue supporting the central role of ASEAN and promote the strategic partnership with the bloc.

 

Regarding regional issues, the two sides stressed the need to maintain security, safety and freedom of navigation and aviation in the East Sea. They agreed to address disputes via peaceful means and in line with international law, including the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (1982 UNCLOS), while respecting diplomatic and legal processes, implementing fully and effectively the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC), and soon signing a Code of Conduct (COC) in the East Sea.

 

After the talks, host and guest answered reporters’ queries at a joint press conference, issued joint statement on Vietnam-US relations, and witnessed the signing of economic cooperation agreements worth over 12 billion USD.-VNA