Vietnam and the US held the sixth political-security-defence dialogue in Washington DC on October 1.
Vietnamese Deputy Foreign Minister Ha Kim Ngoc and US Acting Assistant
Secretary of State Tom Kelly co-chaired the event, which is held
annually between the two countries to discuss bilateral political,
security and defence issues as well regional and international issues of
common concern.
Representatives from Vietnam’s Ministries
of Foreign Affairs, Public Security and Defence and the US Department of
State, the US Agency for International Development and the Pacific
Command also attended the dialogue.
At the event,
the two sides expressed their pleasure at the strong development of
bilateral ties in recent years, especially the two countries’
comprehensive partnership set up during President Truong Tan Sang’s
official visit to the US in July.
This serves as a
basis for the two sides to continue making specific progress in both
bilateral and multilateral cooperation in all fields, especially in
politics, security and defence – the focus of their dialogue.
In the spirit of the new partnership, mutual trust and openness, the
two sides exchanged views on concrete measures to realise their
comprehensive partnership, strengthening cooperation in
non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction bilaterally and
multilaterally and the fight against transnational crime.
They
also discussed ways to improve the capacity of law enforcement at sea,
defence procurement, UN peacekeeping activities, humanitarian aid,
disaster relief, search and rescue activities, and how to overcome the
aftermaths of war, treat Agent Orange/dioxin victims, continue mine
clearance and search for soldiers listed as missing in action.
The delegates talked about regional and global security, stressing
that the two sides need to collaborate in both regional and
international forums, such as the ASEAN Regional Forum, the ASEAN
Defence Ministers Meeting Plus, the East-Asia Summit and the Lower
Mekong Initiative to contribute to building a regional structure for
peace, stability and prosperity in the region and the world.-VNA