On February 2, Mr Campbell met with Minister and Director of the Government Office Vu Duc Dam, Minister of Industry and Trade Vu Huy Hoang, Senior Lieutenant General and Deputy Minister of National Defence Nguyen Chi Vinh, Deputy Foreign Minister Le Luong Minh and Deputy Head of the Party Central Committee’s External Affairs Commission Vuong Thua Phong.

Both sides expressed their satisfaction with the positive developments in Vietnam-US relations in recent times, as well as with bilateral cooperation at multilateral forums that has contributed to maintaining peace, stability, cooperation and development in the region and the world.

They discussed measures to increase cooperation in economics, trade, investment, science and technology, education and training, and coping with climate change and sea level rise.

Vietnam asked the US Government to recognize Vietnam’s market economy status (MES) soon, grant the country the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP), remove trade restrictive measures against Vietnamese products such as shrimp and Tra and Basa fish, and help Vietnam deal with the consequences of war through environmental disinfection and AO/Dioxin victim projects.

Vietnam also affirms its policy of active international integration under which it will continue working with the US and other partners on the Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership Agreement (TPP) and increase cooperation under the framework of the Lower Mekong Initiative (LMI).

The Assistant Secretary of State said the US attaches great importance to relations with Asia Pacific nations, including Vietnam, for the sake of peace, cooperation and development in the region.

The US wants to boost cooperation with Vietnam in various fields and increase its budget for dealing with the consequences of war in the country, Mr Campbell said.

He also said he hopes the two sides will work together to remove trade barriers and finalize their negotiations for the early signing of the civil nuclear deal known as Agreement 123, and continue their cooperation in anti-terrorism, non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and anti-transnational crime.

The US supports joint efforts to settle disputes in the region including the East Sea through peaceful means on the basis of international law, especially the 1982 United Nations Convention of the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), and in compliance with the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC), and will work together to build a Code of Conduct in the East Sea (COC), Mr Campbell noted.