At the reception
On June 13, Deputy Minister of National Defence Senior Lieutenant General Hoang Xuan Chien received the U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman.
Senior Lieutenant General Hoang Xuan Chien affirmed that Vietnam always considers the US as one of the most important partners in its foreign policy. Recently, despite the complicated developments of the COVID-19 pandemic, bilateral relations continued to be maintained through visits by senior leaders of the two countries.
On this occasion, Senior Lieutenant General Hoang Xuan Chien thanked the US for its support for Vietnam in vaccines and equipment for COVID-19 prevention and control.
He assessed that the defense cooperation relationship between Vietnam and the US in the past time has been implemented in the spirit of the Memorandum of Understanding on promoting bilateral defense cooperation signed in 2011, and the joint vision statement on defense relations signed in 2015. The defense cooperation relationship between the two sides over the past time has achieved positive results in the fields of overcoming the consequences of war, dialogue, consultation, exchange of high-level delegations, training, rescue, UN peacekeeping and military health.
Emphasizing that the field of cooperation in overcoming war consequences in Vietnam has always been a priority and concern for Vietnam to promote with the US, Senior Lieutenant General Hoang Xuan Chien said that over the past time, the two sides have achieved some outstanding results, actively contributing to healing the wounds of war and enhancing trust between the two countries.
The highlight is the completion of the dioxin decontamination project at Da Nang airport; continued implementation of the dioxin detoxification project at Bien Hoa airport; the project to improve the quality of life for people with disabilities in Vietnam in provinces heavily sprayed with Agent Orange/dioxin; the communication project on overcoming the consequences of bombs, mines and toxic chemicals after the war; and the carrying out of a Memorandum of Understanding on overcoming the consequences of mines and bombs, and a Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation in searching and gathering the remains of Vietnamese martyrs.
Senior Lieutenant General Hoang Xuan Chien expressed his hope that in the coming time, the US State Department would continue to have a voice with the US Congress and Government to support the fields of defense cooperation being implemented between the two countries, focusing on giving priority in budget support for post-war remedial projects in Vietnam which are being implemented by both sides.
For her part, Sherman emphasised that the partnership in war consequence settlement is a foundation of the Vietnam-US relations, and highly valued their cooperation outcomes in dioxin decontamination, bomb and mine clearance and support to Vietnamese disabled people.
In bilateral defence ties, the US will continue to help Vietnam improve its capacity in UN peacekeeping operations, she pledged./.