Relations between Vietnam and the United States will develop in every field in the future, said Le Hung Quoc, President of the Ho Chi Minh City Union of Friendship Organisations.
Quoc stated this at a ceremony in the city on June 30 to celebrate the United States’ 234th Independence Day (July 4) and 15 years of normal relations between the two nations.
Two-way trade has increased sharply from just tens of millions of USD in the first few years to over 15 billion USD by the end of 2009 and the United States has emerged as the largest foreign investor in Vietnam, he said.
Bilateral cooperation in education and training has flourished and both countries have held regular frank and open talks on humanitarian aid, overcoming natural disasters, cooperation in the fight against terrorism and drug smuggling, border and maritime security, the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons and peacekeeping operations. Both parties have also made a lot of progress when dealing with post-war issues.
The US Acting Consul General in HCM City, Angela Dickey, said the US-Vietnam relationship is developing better than ever before. The US-Vietnam ties have been strengthened by officials at senior level meetings and also through regular consultations between non-governmental organisations, both business communities and individuals from the two countries.
Dickey pointed out the increasing number of US investors, tourists and Americans of Vietnamese origin visiting Vietnam, while the number of Vietnamese who travel to the US on holiday, to visit relatives or study is also rising, which help to enhance mutual understanding between the peoples of both countries.
At the event, two chapters of HCM City’s Vietnam-US Society from Hong Bang University and the Vietnamese Alumni Club in the US made their debut./.