Vietnam, US boost defense ties

The Vietnamese general warmly welcomed the US Senator and entourage to Vietnam, stressing that with understanding on Vietnam and its people the guest has made important contributions to the normalization of the Vietnam-US bilateral relations. He also reaffirmed that the Ministry of National Defense of Vietnam is willing to further cooperation with the US Department of Defense in boosting the Vietnam-US comprehensive partnership as well as the agreed contents in the Memorandum of Understanding on Advancing Bilateral Defense Cooperation and the Joint Vision Statement on Defense Relations.

Vietnam and the US have seen fruitful defense cooperation in various fields, such as exchange of delegations at all levels, personnel training, dialogue consultation, maritime security, search and rescue, UXO clearance, Agent Orange/dioxin detoxification, experience sharing in joining the United Nations peacekeeping operations. 

For his part, Senator McCain highly appreciated results of the Vietnam-US cooperation in various fields over the past time and pledged to propose to the US Congress and Government for continuing assistance for Vietnam in detoxifying Agent Orange/dioxin-contaminated areas, overcoming war consequences, ensuring maritime security and safety, search and rescue cooperation, and other fields of shared concern. 

* On the morning of May 31, Senior Lieutenant General Nguyen Phuong Nam, Deputy Chief of the General Staff, hosted a reception for the US House Armed Services Committee mission led by the committee's Chairman, Congressman William McClellan Thornberry.

At the reception, the Vietnamese general and Congressman Thornberry expressed joy over the sound developing Vietnam-US relations in all aspects, of which one highlight is defense ties. The two senior officials agreed to boost cooperation in relevant defense areas for the sake of the people of the two countries.

Translated by Huu Duong