WashingtonD.C. (VNA) – The year 2023 haswitnessed important progress in the relationship between Vietnam and theUS, with strong and comprehensive development of bilateral ties acrossall fields, stated Vietnamese Ambassador to the US Nguyen Quoc Dung.

The most outstanding progress with an inclusive significanceis the elevation of bilateral ties to a comprehensive strategic partnership forpeace, cooperation and sustainable development, the diplomat told Vietnam NewsAgency (VNA) correspondents in Washington D.C, stressing that the upgradinghas created a new momentum and an open corridor for the promotion ofcooperation between the two countries in the future.

According to Ambassador Dung, this year saw bustling delegation exchangesand high-level meetings between the two countries, including thetalks between General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Nguyen PhuTrong and US President Joe Biden during the latter’s visit to Vietnam.

In the first 10 months of this year, Vietnam’s exports tothe US reached 94.5 billion USD, accounting for nearly 30% of the country’sexport revenue, making the US the largest export market of Vietnam.

Despite the downturn in the global trade, two-way tradebetween the two countries hit over 102 billion USD in the January-Octoberperiod, he noted, adding that Vietnam has remained among the 10 largesttrading partner of the US, with two-way trade increasing more than four folds in10 years.

Regarding investment, the US ranked 11th among foreign investorsin Vietnam with total direct investment of 11.8 billion USD, and most majorenterprises of the North American country is now present in the Southeast Asiannation. This year also witnessed a trend of investment from Vietnam to the US, includingVietnamese automaker VinFast’s launching of an electric vehicle manufacturingfactory in the US’s North Carolina State.

Meanwhile, defence-security collaboration has been promotedwith the success of a defence policy dialogue, while tourism cooperation hasbeen recovered to the pre-pandemic level with about 700,000 US touristsvisiting Vietnam so far this year.

At the same time, bilateral culture-education partnership has been fruitful,with more than 25,000 Vietnamese students studying in the US, ranking firstamong ASEAN countries.

The two sides have also enjoyed positive cooperation results in healthcare, epidemic prevention and control, environmental protection, andclimate change response,along with close coordination at regional and international forums, saidAmbassadorDung.

The diplomat held that in the time to come, the two sidesshould work harder together in implementing their comprehensive partnership,focusing on 10 major agreed pillars.

Particularly, the two countries need to popularise thespirit and content of the agreements between the two countries to ministries,sectors and localities as well as businesses and people of both sides forimplementing suitable programmes and activities, he said.

Ambassador Dung said he hopes the two sides will design astrong coordination mechanism to regularly review and speed up the progress ofthe agreements, and seek solutions to problems and obstacles./.