Viet Nam, U.S. Holds First Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Foreign Ministerial Meeting

Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son and Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken co-chaired the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership foreign ministerial meeting in Washington, the U.S., on March 25.

Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken (R) and Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son co-chair the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership foreign ministerial meeting, Washington DC, the U.S., March 25, 2024 - Photo: baoquocte.vn

This is the first foreign ministerial meeting between the two nations since the upgrade of the bilateral ties to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in September last year.

Blinken said, it is a crucial event for both sides to review and boost the implementation of high-ranking agreements.

The U.S. places importance on the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership with Viet Nam, advocating a strong, independent, resilient, and prosperous Viet Nam, he reiterated.

The U.S. supports Viet Nam to continue expanding international integration and  playing a more crucial role in ASEAN and in the world, he said, affirming the U.S. commits to realizing the new relationship framework and agreements reached by their senior leaders.

Blinken affirmed that the U.S. advocates the centrality of ASEAN in the region, Mekong-U.S. cooperation, climate change response and United Nations Peacekeeping Operations (PKO) and will continue promoting collaboration within the framework of the ASEAN-U.S. Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.

Bui, for his part, said the U.S. is a strategically important partner of Viet Nam, emphasizing that the upgrade of the bilateral relations is the right decision, demonstrating the strategic vision of the two countries' senior leaders and efforts to strengthen the bilateral cooperation, in accordance with the interests of their peoples, contributing to peace, stability, cooperation and development in the region.

Viet Nam will continue working together with the U.S. to carry out the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in a more effective, practical, and sustainable manner and expanding collaboration on the basis of respect for each other's independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity and political institutions, to maintain development momentum for decades to come, he asserted.

Regarding regional and international issues of common concerns, Bui suggested the U.S. continue making active contribution to maintaining peace, stability, cooperation and development in the Indo-Pacific.

The two diplomats vowed to enhance the foreign ministerial meeting mechanism to promote close cooperation between the two foreign ministries in implementing high-level agreements.

They pledged to effectively carry out existing bilateral cooperation mechanisms, including dialogue mechanisms on politics-security-defense, defense policy dialogue, and human rights dialogue; and organize activities to celebrate the 30th anniversary of normalizing the bilateral ties in 2025.

Source: VGP