Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam addresses an event celebrating 25 years of Vietnam-US diplomatic relations in Hanoi on October 7, 2020. (Photo: VNA)

Addressing the event in Hanoi, Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam emphasised that the normalisation of Vietnam-US diplomatic relations was an important decision of the countries’ leaders, which closed a period full of difficulties and heralded a promising era.
The Vietnam-US comprehensive partnership has been developing extensively and substantively, from politics-diplomacy, economy-trade and defence-security to science-technology, health care and education.

Bilateral trade has increased 170-fold since 1995 to approximate 80 billion USD. Meanwhile, people-to-people exchange is increasingly vibrant, according to him.

The Deputy Prime Minister highlighted Vietnam’s consistent foreign policy of independence, self-reliance, and diversification and mulilateralisation of diplomatic relations, noting that the country considers the US a partner of leading importance in its foreign policy.

This year, when Vietnam is serving as the ASEAN Chair and a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council for 2020-2021, the two sides have coordinated closely in issues of common concern at regional and international forums, Deputy Prime Minister Dam said, adding that they have also been working with the international community to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic and other emerging global challenges.

He stressed that Vietnam will keep joining the US in expanding and intensifying their bilateral comprehensive partnership, thereby making effective and practical contributions to the countries’ development as well as regional and global peace, stability and development.