During the open, frank and constructive talks, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton confirmed that the US wants to strengthen and boost its relationship with Vietnam.

The senior US official expressed hope that Vietnam will be able to guide the ASEAN bloc to tackle important issues when it assumes the ASEAN Presidency in 2010. “I expect ASEAN meeting to be held in Vietnam and plan to attend this meeting”. She said that US President Barack Obama shared her views on strengthening and boosting relations between the US and Vietnam and emphasising the importance of the ASEAN bloc.

Since the Vietnam-US bilateral trade agreement took effect in 2001, two-way trade between the two countries has increased sharply. In 2008, Vietnam-US two-way trade reached a record figure of US$15 billion.

For his part, Deputy PM Khiem said that Vietnam has always attached importance to developing its relations with the US. The North American country is one of Vietnam’s leading partners and the relations between the two countries have developed well in recent times. He added that both countries will boost cooperation in fields such as economics, trade, science and education over the next few years.

Mrs Hillary also congratulated Vietnam on its assumption of the UN Security Council Presidency in October and gave her deepest sympathy for the loss of human lives and property caused by storm Ketsena in the central region of Vietnam. Mrs Hillary also stated that the US is willing to help Vietnam deal with the aftermath of the natural disaster.

Mr Khiem expressed his thanks to the US Secretary of State for her warm welcome and invited her to visit Vietnam and attend the ASEAN meeting in 2010.