PANO – Senior Lieutenant General Nguyen Chi Vinh, Deputy Minister of National Defence welcomed Senior Vice President of the US-ASEAN Business Council (USABC) Michael Michalak in Hanoi on November 27th.

The USABC senior official is the former US Ambassador to from 2007 to 2011.

General Vinh believed that with experience earned during his term of office as US Ambassador in Vietnam, Mr. Michael Michalak would better contribute to the relations of the two countries in general and to the bilateral defence cooperation in particular.

Senior Lieutenant General Nguyen Chi Vinh, Deputy Minister of National Defence receiving Senior Vice President of the US-ASEAN Business Council (USABC) Michael Michalak

The Vietnamese Deputy Defence Minister suggested Vietnam and the USA should work together in dealing with the post-war consequences, especially in the fields of unexploded ordnance (UXO) clearance and Agent Orange/dioxin contaminated soil treatment.

Additionally, they should boost information dissemination to help their people learn more about this meaningful task.

In turn, Mr. Michael Michalak voiced his pleasure at the achievements of Vietnam and the USA in overcoming post-war consequences, particularly in clearing bombs and mines, cleansing dioxin-contaminated soil and carrying out the search of US soldiers killed or reported missing in action (MIA).

The US guest added that the advent of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) would open business opportunities between Vietnam and the USA and that through dialogues, cooperation and information sharing, the bilateral relations would continually develop.

Translated by Van Hieu