Socialist Republic of Vietnam

Washington (VNA) – Vietnam always attaches importance to development of its partnership with the US in various fields in line with high-level statements between the two countries.

Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai made the remark at a meeting with US Secretary of State Condolezza Rice in Washington on November 17, which was part of his working visit to the US to implement high-level agreements inked by the two sides during Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung’s visit in June 2008.

Deputy PM Hai highly valued positive developments in the friendship and cooperation between the two countries in recent years, especially in economics and trade. He said, however, that bilateral ties should be further consolidated and lifted to a new height in future through active implementation of the already-reached agreements. Hai took the occasion to thank the US Department of State in general and the US Secretary of State in particular for great contributions to strengthening bilateral ties over the recent past. He expressed his wish that she supports the US ’s granting of the Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) treatment to Vietnam .

For her part, Rice said she was pleased with the developing relationship between the two countries and hoped that bilateral cooperation would be expanded to other fields such as education and the exchange of students.
Vietnam and the US should accelerate dialogues and introduce suitable mechanisms for their cooperation as well as for addressing existing problems between the two sides, she said. Rice applauded Vietnam ’s participation in the negotiations over the trans-Pacific Economic Partnership Agreement, saying that the country’s move to join in this mechanism is suitable to its trend of opening and strong integration into the regional and international economies.