These priorities include strengthening bilateral ties between the US and each Mekong country, promoting production linkages and self-reliant supply chains, tackling non-traditional security challenges, and managing water resources.
Mr. Giang, who is also head of the Vietnamese delegation to the ASEAN Senior Officials’ Meeting (SOM) and co-chair of the MUSP, advocated for a high-level policy dialogue with concrete projects. He called for the US support and urged Mekong countries to take on an assertive role, in service of an independent, self-reliant and prosperous sub-region; and an open, inclusive and ASEAN-centered regional architecture.
On Wednesday, Deputy Foreign Minister Giang attended the 38th ASEAN-US Dialogue (AUSD), where he stressed that the ASEAN-US Comprehensive Strategic Partnership should be strengthened on the basis of political trust, mutual respect, and mutual benefit to deliver more concrete results. He pushed for stronger collaboration in trade, investment, AI, digital economy, energy, critical minerals, sustainable supply chains, and crime prevention. He also called for more support for ASEAN integration and Mekong sub-regional cooperation.
Deputy Foreign Minister Giang also reaffirmed Vietnam’s and ASEAN’s stance on maintaining peace, stability, security, safety, and freedom of navigation and overflight on the East Sea (known internationally as South China Sea). He also stressed the importance of settling disputes by peaceful means in accordance with international law, particularly the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), and the need for an effective, substantive, and legally binding Code of Conduct (COC) in the East Sea.
