Washington DC (VNA) – Vietnamese Ambassador to theUS Pham Quang Vinh has highlighted the two countries’ defence and securitycooperation while visiting the US Military Academy in West Point, New York.

During the visit, made at the invitation of theacademy and the US Department of State, Vinh met with the academy’sSuperintendent Lieutenant General Robert Caslen, lecturers and cadets of thedepartments of social sciences and international relations.

At the meetings, he reviewed the two countries’relations, valuing their comprehensive partnership with the principles of anequal relationship and respect for each other’s political regime and recentcooperation outcomes.

Both sides have regularly exchanged high-rankingdelegations while enhancing economic, trade and investment links, he said,elaborating that bilateral trade has surpassed 50 billion USD, rising by morethan 100 times from when they set up diplomatic ties in 1995. Cooperation ineducation, health care and science-technology has also been reinforced.

In terms of defence-security, they have beencarrying out the 2011 Memorandum of Understanding for Advancing BilateralDefence Cooperation and the 2015 Joint Vision Statement, which includecooperation in maritime security, search and rescue, natural disaster response,peacekeeping, war consequences settlement, unexploded ordnance clearance anddioxin detoxification.

US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State forSoutheast Asia Patrick Murphy said the countries’ relations have recordedimpressive strides over the past four decades, from former foes tocomprehensive partners in multiple fields such as trade, security, humanitarianaid, people-to-people exchange and response to regional and global challenges.

Talking to the academy’s lecturers and cadets,Ambassador Vinh informed them about Vietnam’s reform achievements, development plans,foreign policy and international integration.

Vietnam attaches importance to relations withthe US and will work with the new administration of the US to promote their partnership,he stressed.

Superintendent Robert Caslen spoke highly ofgrowing Vietnam-US ties. He also introduced his academy’s training programmesand expressed the readiness to share training experience.

Cadets of the academy also showed their interestin the country, people and development of Vietnam, as well as the countries’relations.-VNA