Expressing his pleasure at meeting Acting Secretary Hung Cao again in New York, General Phan Van Giang affirmed that Viet Nam always wishes to develop cooperation with the U.S. on the basis of the legitimate interests of both sides, contributing to peace, stability, cooperation, and development in the region and the world.
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General Phan Van Giang and Acting Secretary of the U.S. Navy Hung Cao |
The Vietnamese defense minister highly appreciated the U.S. Department of War’s coordination in organizing an event on the “Initiative on searching for U.S. servicemen missing in action” during the visit by the Vietnamese high-ranking delegation. He noted that the event demonstrated the U.S.’s commitment to continuing to participate in and contribute to Viet Nam’s “500-day campaign to accelerate the search, collection, and identification of martyrs’ remains.”
Recalling his good impressions from his recent visit to Viet Nam, Acting Secretary Hung Cao highly appreciated the positive development of U.S.- Viet Nam relations.
He emphasized that defense cooperation continues to play an important role in promoting peace and prosperity in both countries, as well as regional security, cooperation, and development.
The Acting Secretary affirmed that the U.S. attaches importance to its relations with Viet Nam and supports a strong, independent, self-reliant, and prosperous Viet Nam that plays an increasingly important role in the region. He expressed his desire to continue expanding the bilateral cooperation in areas such as addressing war consequences, maritime security, capacity building, humanitarian assistance, and disaster response.
Regarding the bilateral defense cooperation, General Phan Van Giang expressed his hope that the two sides would continue coordinating to implement agreed cooperation contents in the coming time, focusing on addressing war consequences, searching for, recovering, and identifying the remains of military personnel of both Viet Nam and the U.S., Bilateral Defense Policy Dialogue, defense industry, maritime security, and military medicine.
General Phan Van Giang also asked the U.S. to continue supporting Viet Nam in expanding the scope of the project assisting persons with disabilities in localities heavily sprayed with Agent Orange/dioxin.
He further called on the U.S. to fulfill its commitments to the dioxin remediation project at Bien Hoa Airbase, striving to complete the project before 2031 and thereby provide a safe living environment for local residents.
Translated by Minh Anh