New Momentum Following Six Months of Vietnam-US Upgraded Relations

According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Vietnam, at the dialogue, Vietnamese Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son and United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken reviewed the progress of the two countries' relations as well as the cooperation contents implemented since the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership was established in September 2023.

Vietnamese Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son (left) and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken co-chaired the first ministerial-level meeting in Washington DC on March 25. (Photo: Kieu Trang/VNA)

Specifically, six months after establishing the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, Vietnam and the United States have made significant progress in their cooperation. The two countries have cooperated to improve education and training for the innovative economy and strengthen diplomatic and people-to-people ties, particularly through involvement with political parties, legislatures, and cultural institutions.

Vietnam and the United States are also expanding business-to-business networks, deepening human rights discussions, continuing efforts to address war legacies, particularly the Detoxification project at Bien Hoa Airport, and coordinating regional and multilateral concerns.

The two ministers exchanged views on measures to strengthen bilateral relations, including promoting the Foreign Minister-level Dialogue mechanism to enhance cooperation in implementing high-level agreements. The two officials agreed that it is necessary for Vietnam and the United States to efficiently utilize existing bilateral cooperation mechanisms, such as political, security, and defense dialogues, defense policy dialogues, and human rights dialogues. They also agreed to actively coordinate efforts to mark the 30th anniversary of the two nations' normalization of relations in 2025.

Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son and his counterpart discussed regional and international issues of mutual concern. The Vietnamese Minister Bui proposed that the United States continue to take an active role in promoting peace, stability, cooperation, and development in Asia-Pacific, the Indian Ocean, and throughout the world.

An overview of the first Vietnam-US Dialogue at the foreign ministerial level (Photo: Kieu Trang/ VNA)

For his part, Secretary of State Blinken affirmed that the United States continues to support ASEAN's central role in the region and would continue to encourage cooperation within the framework of the ASEAN-US Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, Mekong-US cooperation in response to climate change, and UN peacekeeping operations.

He also affirmed that the United States values its comprehensive strategic partnership with Vietnam, and supports a strong, independent, resilient, and prosperous Vietnam that bolsters regional prosperity and stability and takes on an increasingly important role in ASEAN as well as in the region and the international arena.

Furthermore, the two sides discussed the East Sea (South China Sea) issue and agreed on the importance of peace, security, stability, freedom of navigation, and overflight in the East Sea; solving disputes through peaceful means in accordance with international law, including the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS); fully implementing the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC); and working towards an effective and substantive Code of Conduct in the East Sea (COC).

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