“Since President Bill Clinton, when the two countries normalized relations, US presidents have visited Vietnam. We want to send a message that Vietnam is important to the US,” US Ambassador to Vietnam Marc E. Knapper affirmed to VietNamNet.
Continuously strengthen the relationship between the two countries
On September 10, the US President will visit Vietnam at the invitation of General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong. What do we expect from stronger cooperation between the two countries after this high-level visit, Ambassador?
We look forward to welcoming US President Joe Biden to Vietnam. This visit will complete the phone call between General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong and President Joe Biden last March.
The visit is also an important part of the larger efforts this year, to mark the 10th anniversary of the two countries establishing a comprehensive partnership. We see the Vietnam-US relationship in many ways. These include visits by leaders, aircraft carriers, or the trade relationship between the two countries reaching nearly 140 billion USD, making Vietnam the 8th largest country among US trade partners, the US being Vietnam's largest export market...
Besides strengthening economic cooperation, we are constantly strengthening the relationship between the people of the two countries.
Nearly 30,000 Vietnamese students are studying in the United States, making Vietnam the fifth largest sender of students to the United States, and I want to find ways to grow that number. Fulbright University in Ho Chi Minh City has graduated its first generation of students. We have a Peace Corps with volunteers teaching English in Hanoi. We have a great partnership on climate change issues.
In addition, we are working together on the clean energy transition in Vietnam. A lot of great things have happened this year, and a lot of great things have come to fruition in the overall relationship between our two countries.
Convey the message
Could the Ambassador elaborate on how US President Biden's visit to Vietnam is being prepared?
In terms of the overall message, we are fortunate that since President Bill Clinton, when relations were normalized, every US president has visited Vietnam. We want to send the message that our relationship is very meaningful.
The intrinsic value of our relationship goes beyond anything we can think of in the US-Vietnam relationship. Going back to the visit, I think the focus is on helping Vietnam build an innovative economy, including developing a high-tech workforce, responding to the challenges and seizing the opportunities of the 21st century.
I think you have heard a lot about our two countries, about our people and about how we can develop the relationship in the future.
Health cooperation has always been a strong feature of the US-Vietnam friendship, whether it is working together to help each other during the Covid-19 pandemic or to fight HIV/AIDS.
So in many ways, this visit sends a big message that the relationship between the United States and Vietnam is important.
What we are doing is showing respect for each other’s political systems. All of this will be highlighted through this historic visit. Of course, it will require a lot of effort, but in the end, the results of these efforts will be wonderful for both countries.
According to you, what is the greatest potential in the relationship that both sides need to strongly promote in the coming time?
I think it will be in areas related to education. This will help people from both countries understand each other better and cooperate to ensure that Vietnam has the workforce it needs to meet the challenges and seize the opportunities of the 21st century.
I think we will cooperate on environmental issues, especially climate change, to realize the efforts of Vietnam in particular and of the two countries in general to complete the goal of net zero emissions by 2050. The US wants to achieve this whether through financial cooperation, technology or human resources.
The US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry has been to Vietnam several times. This is a very important area where we can cooperate to respond to climate change. Vietnam is one of the countries in the world most affected by this issue.
The United States is the largest contributor to the Partnership for a Just Energy Transition, and I think we will have discussions to optimize our cooperation to meet the important goals that Vietnam has set for itself.
28 years journey
Looking back over the past 28 years, and especially the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the Vietnam-US comprehensive partnership, how does the Ambassador feel about the achievements the two countries have made in the pillars of cooperation?
It is certainly trade investment. Among the most obvious achievements, two-way trade turnover reached 140 billion USD. This is an impressive figure in the context of the previous relationship between the two countries. This figure has increased by 360% since we started our comprehensive partnership.
Ambassador Marc E. Knapper: "Our cooperation is based on a foundation built on people-to-people relationships, based on understanding and trust"
We are seeing investment from Vietnamese companies in the US, as well as Vietnamese companies appearing on the US stock market. These are real signs of the growing connection between the two countries’ economies. It is a great achievement, thanks to the efforts of both the US and Vietnam.
The efforts of both countries in the field of climate are also enormous and will continue to grow.
Again, whether it is through financial cooperation, technical cooperation, education, we are very happy that many young Vietnamese people and maybe even students who are too young want to study in the US. We are proud that many families have faith in American education and are willing to send their children to study in the US.
Not only undergraduate and graduate programs, we also implement many smaller programs. For example, the US Government has programs that allow young people to come to the US for a week or a few months. This is an opportunity for young people in Vietnam or the US to have the opportunity to go and learn more about each other's country.
It is really necessary because everything we cooperate on is based on a foundation built by human-to-human relationships, based on understanding and trust.
This year, we celebrate 35 years of joint participation in the search for American service members missing in action. This is an extraordinary and humanitarian effort from Vietnam, and I know that hundreds of thousands of Americans are deeply grateful for what you have done.
We also launched an initiative a few years ago to help you in your efforts to locate missing service members from the war, using archival research and DNA analysis. Hopefully, this program will help bring closure to many Vietnamese families, in the same way that Vietnam’s efforts have helped American families.
Both sides also carried out other efforts such as clearing and dismantling bombs and mines, whether at Da Nang airport or Bien Hoa military airport, in the hope of clearing mines left over from the war; and supporting people with disabilities. These were all efforts that took place before, during the normalization of relations, helping to establish a foundation of trust between the two countries, which continues to benefit both countries today.
* Next part: Vietnam - US together establish foundation for stronger development in the future
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