The cooperation between Vietnamese and US nationals plays a crucialcomponent in the normalisation of relations between the two countries,according to outcomes from a forum held in Hanoi on January 27.

The forum is part of activities to mark the 20th anniversary of diplomatic ties between the two countries.

According to Vice President of the Vietnam Veterans of America (VVA)Marsha Four, people-to-people relationships are fundamental toincreasing mutual understanding between the two countries.

The forum created opportunities for participants to reviewcoordination programmes and initiatives from recent years, and to seeknew ways to propel multi-faceted cooperation between Vietnam and theUS within the framework of their comprehensive partnership, saidChairman of the Vietnam-US Association Nguyen Tam Chien.

Participants agreed that over the past two decades, Vietnam and theUS have seen positive developments across politics and security,trade and investment, interpersonal exchange, education and theenvironment. Notably, trade between the two nations exceeded 30 billionUSD in 2014, 130 times that of 1994.

They reviewedthe implementation of programmes and initiatives to address theaftermath of war in Vietnam, such as unexploded ordnances and AgentOrange (AO)/Dioxin contamination.

They noted thatVietnam and the US are collaborating on a dioxin clean up at the DaNang Airport, a known dioxin ‘hot spot’ with high levels of soilcontamination, while enacting measures to support AO/dioxin victims.

The Vietnamese Government has established a steering committee toaddress bomb and mine consequences and allocated significant funding todisarming unexploded ordnances and supporting victims.

However, with large contaminated surface areas and financialshortages, Vietnam hopes to receive more human, financial andtechnical support from global partners, including the US , to addressthese concerns.-VNA