Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc at John F. Kennedy airport (Photo: VNA) New York, (VNA) – The WashingtonTimes on May 30 published a message by Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc on theoccasion of his official visit to the United States of America at theinvitation of President Donald Trump.
The following is the full text ofthe message.
“Over the past two decades, Ihave on several occasions come to the US on business trips and study tours, andevery time I was greeted with the warm hospitality of American friends. Duringthis official visit to the US as Prime Minister of Vietnam, myself and othermembers of the high-level delegation of the Government of Viet Nam aredelighted to see old friends and meet new ones who share our strong desire topromote the friendship and cooperation between Vietnam and the US, so that wecan together write a new chapter in the history of the relationship between ourtwo peoples.
Despite ocean apart, Vietnam andthe US have bridged the distance and come closer together since theestablishment of diplomatic relations 22🐻 years ago. With the courage to riseabove ourselves and the spirit of “shelving the past, heading toward thefuture,” we have overcome many difficulties and challenges to turn from foes tofriends and now comprehensive partnership built on strong foundation.
US exports into Vietnam increasedfive folds in the last 10 years. During this trip, businesses from both sideswill sign many deals worth billions of dollars, creating tens of thousands ofAmerican jobs and boost exports from the US to Vietnam and vice versa, thusraising the livelihood of workers in both countries.
Our economies are fullycomplementary and with increasing trade come stronger mutual benefits. Vietnamis importing in fast increasing number Boeing airplanes, Lockheed Martinsatellites to strengthen our transportation and communication systems, as wellas GE’s turbines to transition to a greener and cleaner energy sector.Underwriter Laboratories newly built lab is providing certification services toensure Vietnamese products meet global standards. Agricultural imports from theUS, including 0.5 million tons of cotton and 1.5 million tons of soybean, maizeand corn in 2016 alone, are helping Vietnamese textile andaqua-culture products engage deeper into the global supply chain.
In return, we are exporting tothe US shrimps, tra/basa fish, tropical fruits, apparels, and footwear that arewell liked by American consumers. In May 2017, Vinamilk, the Vietnamese biggestdiary group, imported 2,000 high-yield dairy cows and is expected to buyanother 8,000 from the US to produce high-quality milk for Vietnamese children.
More than 31,000 Vietnamesestudents are pursuing their higher education in the US. They will be enormousresources for development in economic, science and technology fields forVietnam as well as the strong foundation for bilateral relations. The FulbrightUniversity Vietnam and the Peace Corps programme will soon be launched inVietnam to give Vietnamese students access to a world class educationsystem and English language learning opportunities. Furthermore, they will alsostand as the vivid testaments of our growing bilateral relations.
In Quang Nam, my beloved hometown, our work topreserve the natural beauty of Cua Dai beach and the heritage of Hoi An OldTown receive the wholehearted support from many American friends. We are alsograteful to the experts and scholars from Harvard University (MA), PortlandUniversity (OR), University of Arizona (AZ) and many other US research andtraining institutions for sharing with us theirexperience in disaster relief, climate change response and human resourcedevelopment. Wounds of the war are being healed with efforts to clean up dioxinhotspots and unexploded ordnance. This genuine and sincere assistance is thesolid building blocks for mutual trust and understanding, hence the foundationfor a lasting relationship between Vietnam and the US decades to come.
More than 20 years ago, manyAmericans only heard of Vietnam as the name of a war. But nowadays, they knowof Vietnam as a sovereign nation with an independent foreign policy, a partnerthat deeply values its relations with the US and constantly seeks to reinforcea stable, long-term relationship with the US on the basis of mutual benefitsand respect for each other’s sovereignty, political system, in the interest ofpeace, security, stability, cooperation and development in the region and theworld at large.
We wish to establish a strongworking relationship with the Administration of President Trump to ensure notonly the interest of the Vietnamese and American people but also the benefitsof the ASEAN Community, for the sake of peace, security, stability, cooperationand prosperity of the Asia Pacific and the entire world. In November this year,Vietnam will host the APEC Summit 2017 under the theme of “Creating newdynamism, fostering a shared future”. We welcome President Trump’s earlyacceptance of our invitation to attend this important Summit and look forwardto building a substantive and effective agenda with the US and other membereconomies of the APEC.
Wꦇith such progress made in thepast 20 years, we have all the reasons t𓆏o believe that the Vietnam-USrelationship will continue to flourish in the next 20 years and beyond.”-VNA
