Ambassador Pham Quang Vinh: 'Looking forward to the new US President coming to Vietnam'

Ambassador Pham Quang Vinh said he looks forward to the new US President coming to Vietnam and attending the 2017 APEC Summit.

On November 16, Vietnamese Ambassador to the United States Pham Quang Vinh gave a talk at the Center for the National Interest of the United States about the future of Vietnam and Asia’s relations with the United States in the coming time. The talk was attended by scholars and reporters from many research institutes and major media companies around the world.

Vietnamese Ambassador to the US Pham Quang Vinh (right) speaks at the Center for the National Interest.

At the talk, Ambassador Pham Quang Vinh emphasized that Asia is of great economic and strategic importance to the US. Asia is currently the most dynamically developing region in the world, with large economies such as China and Japan contributing 60% of global GDP and a market that accounts for half of the world's population. Asian regional mechanisms such as APEC, ASEM, EAS, ARF, and ADMM are increasingly expanding, attracting the participation of all major powers in the world.

In that context, the Ambassador said that the next US administration needs to continue to maintain its commitments to Asia. This comes not only from the interests of Asia but also from the national interests of the US. Therefore, the US needs to continue to promote cooperation with Asia, especially ASEAN, the leading strategic partner in the region.

ASEAN has played and will continue to play a very important role in regional processes and in cooperation with all countries, for the purpose of ensuring peace, stability and prosperous development in the region.

Regarding Vietnam-US relations, Ambassador Pham Quang Vinh reviewed important milestones and said that the two countries have a solid foundation to further promote the relationship.

Since the establishment of diplomatic relations in 1995, Vietnam - US relations have developed in many aspects, and are considered to have exceeded expectations.

The Ambassador particularly emphasized the framework of the Vietnam-US comprehensive partnership, established in 2013, as well as major milestones in the relationship in recent years, namely the historic visit to the US by General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong (July 2015) and the visit to Vietnam by President Barack Obama (May 2015).

This has created momentum and further expanded bilateral cooperation in all areas, from politics, economics, to science and technology, education and training, security and defense, to issues of common concern such as climate change, health, environment, etc. The two countries also cooperate closely in international and regional forums such as the United Nations, WTO, APEC and ASEAN.

Ambassador Pham Quang Vinh said that the two countries still have a lot of potential and room for development. If in 1995, the two-way trade turnover was less than 0.5 billion USD, it has now increased more than 100 times, reaching 50 billion USD/year. This figure will increase in the coming years in the context of the increasingly growing Vietnam - US relationship.

The Ambassador also updated Vietnam's innovation and integration policies, focusing on facilitating private investors and foreign businesses, including those from the US; and requested the US to facilitate Vietnamese goods entering the US market, such as removing trade barriers and soon recognizing Vietnam as a market economy.

The Ambassador also emphasized the need to promote the exploitation of cooperation potentials in education and training, tourism, science and technology, etc. Currently, there are over 20,000 Vietnamese students studying at universities in the US, ranking first among Southeast Asian countries; every year, more than 500,000 American tourists come to Vietnam; the US is also implementing the opening of Fulbright University in Vietnam, creating conditions for educational and training cooperation, and the relationship between the youth of the two countries has the opportunity to be strengthened.

The two countries can also strengthen cooperation in the fields of climate change response, coordinate with ASEAN and countries in the region to ensure a peaceful environment and development cooperation, including ensuring maritime security, peace and stability in the East Sea.

On that basis and promoting the momentum of the relationship in recent years, Ambassador Pham Quang Vinh affirmed that Vietnam will continue to cooperate with the new US administration, strengthen the comprehensive partnership in a substantive, long-term and sustainable manner, and believes that the Vietnam - US relationship will develop even more strongly in the coming time.

The Ambassador also emphasized the importance of APEC 2017 in Vietnam, expressed his desire to cooperate closely with the US and member countries to ensure the success of the APEC Summit Week, and looked forward to the new US President coming to Vietnam and attending the Conference.

On this occasion, the Ambassador also answered many questions from the audience about trade and investment prospects in Vietnam, Vietnam's development priorities, regional cooperation, including ASEAN, APEC, maritime security and safety in the East Sea, Mekong Sub-region cooperation, including responding to climate change and rising sea levels in the Mekong Delta, and many other regional and international issues of concern.

The Center for the National Interest is one of the world's leading research institutes, founded in 1985, focusing on research and proposing US policies in US relations with countries around the world, as well as in areas such as energy security and climate change.

According to VOV