The recent strong development of Vietnam-US relations on bilateral andmultilateral scale will create an important foundation to lift bilateralties to a new height, said President Truong Tan Sang.

PresidentSang made the statement on November 11 while meeting US Secretary ofState Hillary Clinton after he arrived in Honolulu, the venue for the19th Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Leaders’ Week.

ThePresident said Vietnam always attaches importance to relations with theUS as a leading strategic partner and praised Hillary Clinton’scontributions to the development of Vietnam-US relations.

For herpart, Secretary of State Clinton affirmed the US continues to attachimportance and wants to further bolster multifaceted cooperation withVietnam, including bringing the two countries’ relationship towards thestrategic partnership.

She said the US will continue itscooperation with concerned parties to contribute to maritime freedom andsafety, support the peaceful settlement of sovereignty disputes in theEast Sea on the basis of international law, including the 1982 UnitedNations Convention on the Law of the Sea and the Declaration on theConduct of Parties on the East Sea (DOC), opposes the use of force,supports countries that have rights to exploit resources within theireconomic exclusive zone and welcomes efforts to establish the Code ofConduct (COC) of Parties in the East Sea.

Sang welcomed stronger cooperation between the US and Asia-Pacific for peace, stability and development in the region.

Sangexpressed his belief that the APEC Week will make importantcontributions to promoting cooperation, connectivity and economicrecovery in the region and raise APEC’s prestige.

The Vietnamese delegation will actively make contributions to the success of the event, he said.

Thesame day, President Sang also met with Hawaii Governor NeilAbercrombie, who welcomed President Sang to the 19th APEC Leaders’ Week.

Thegovernor said he wishes to bolster multifaceted cooperation between theUS state and Vietnam, especially in tourism and people-to-peopleexchanges.

President Sang said he hoped Vietnam and Hawaii willbring into play their potential and strengths in cooperation to raisetwo-way trade and promote cooperation in tourism, education andtraining, with Hawaii set to help Vietnam train hotel staff for tourismdevelopment.

At a meeting with leaders of the US businesses, Sangaffirmed Vietnam’s efforts in improving investment and businessenvironments, and creating favourable conditions for foreign businessesto operate in Vietnam, including those from the US.

The Stateleader asked businesses to request the US government to promptlyrecognise Vietnam as a market economy and grant it the generalisedsystem of preferences.

Speaking highly of Vietnam – UScooperation in the fields of trade and investment, the US entrepreneurspledged long-term cooperation to expand their business in many fields inVietnam.

They said they hope Vietnam will further improve itsinfrastructure, high-quality human resource training and environmentalprotection in combination with development.

While talking withrepresentatives of Overseas Vietnamese (OV) and students living andstudying in Hawaii, Sang affirmed that the OV are an inseparable part ofVietnam.

The representatives hailed the Vietnamese State’s OVpolicies, adding that they want to contribute more to the country aswell as the development of the Hawaii – Vietnam relations./.