This is the first time a U.S. Vice President has visited the Southeast Asian country.
According to a statement of the White House, during her stay, Harris will engage Vietnamese leaders on issues of mutual interest, including regional security, the global response to the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change, and joint efforts to promote a rules-based international order.
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U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris at a press conference in Singapore on August 23, 2021 |
The Vice President will also affirm and celebrate the strong cultural and people-to-people ties between the U.S. and Vietnam.
The visit is hoped to contribute to strengthening ties and expanding economic cooperation between the U.S. and important partners in the Indo-Pacific region.
Harris is scheduled to have meetings with Vietnamese leaders, including a meeting with Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh on the COVID-19 pandemic, regional security and economic cooperation.
She also planned to attend the inauguration of an office of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Hanoi, which will work to deal with issues related to infectious diseases in Southeast Asia.
The U.S. is currently the largest COVID-19 vaccine donor for Vietnam with 5 million doses of Moderna vaccine.
As of August 3, 2021, Vietnam ranked 7th among the top 10 countries receiving the vaccine support from the country.
Vietnam has also signed commercial agreements with U.S. vaccine manufacturers Moderna and Pfizer to realize its goal of having about 70 percent of its population provided with the first shot by the first quarter of 2022.
In his visit to Vietnam last month, U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said his country pledged to donate 77 cold storage freezers to help Vietnam store COVID-19 vaccines.
According to the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the U.S. has committed to providing Vietnam with over 20 million USD in aid to support the Southeast Asian country in the fight against the pandemic.
Source: VNA