During the meeting, the Vietnamese deputy defense minister affirmed that Vietnam always considers the U.S. one of its top partners and wishes to further promote bilateral relations on the basis of mutual respect for independence, sovereignty, and political systems, for the benefit of both countries and for peace, stability, cooperation, and development in the region and the world.
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Sr. Lt. Gen. Hoang Xuan Chien exchanges with Senator Tammy Duckworth. |
Gen. Chien emphasized that since the two countries upgraded their bilateral relationship to a comprehensive strategic partnership for peace, cooperation, and sustainable development in September 2023, their relations have witnessed positive progress in many areas, including defense cooperation.
The host evaluated that over the past time, Vietnam-U.S. defense cooperation in such areas as exchanges of delegations, dialogue and consultation, settlement of war legacy, U.N. peacekeeping operations, capacity building, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, and port calls of U.S. naval and coast guard ships to Vietnam, has continued to be maintained in accordance with the signed documents and agreements.
On this occasion, the Vietnamese defense leader thanked the U.S. and highly appreciated its support to Vietnam and commitment to war legacy settlement, especially the increase in funding for dioxin decontamination at Bien Hoa Airbase from USD183 million to USD 300 million, USD 30 million in supplemental funding for supporting Vietnamese Agent Orange/dioxin victims. He reaffirmed that Vietnam always pays attention to and closely coordinates with the U.S. in the search for U.S. servicemen missing in action.
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Sr. Lt. Gen. Hoang Xuan Chien, Senator Tammy Duckworth, and members of the two delegations in a joint photo |
Gen. Chien expected that in the coming time Senator Tammy Duckworth will pay attention to and advise the U.S. Congress to continue supporting the implementation of defense cooperation fields in accordance with the signed agreements.
For her part, the U.S. Senator affirmed her willingness to support Vietnam in her capacity, thereby contributing to promoting bilateral cooperation in areas that the two sides have demands and strengths, in line with the comprehensive strategic partnership for peace, cooperation, and sustainable development between the two countries, including defense relations. Along with that, Senator Tammy Duckworth emphasized that she would continue the efforts of previous generations of U.S. senators in nurturing the bilateral relationship and supporting Vietnam in various areas, especially in war legacy settlement, search for missing U.S. servicemen, and UXO clearance.
Translated by Tran Hoai