Concretizing the Joint Statement on the Vietnam-US Comprehensive Strategic Partnership

Respond to urgent issues of the world economy with a new, inclusive, harmonious and humane mindset; take high-tech cooperation, Green Economy and local connectivity as breakthrough directions to implement the Joint Statement on establishing the Vietnam-US Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.

These are the key messages, consistent and also the outstanding success of President Vo Van Thuong's attendance at the 2023 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit Week and bilateral activities in the United States. The trip has left an important mark in the 2023 foreign affairs program of the Party and State leaders, thereby continuing to maintain and consolidate a peaceful, stable foreign affairs situation, favorable for the country's development.

Trade liberalization, inclusiveness, harmony and humanity

It is no coincidence that the beautiful city of San Francisco, California, was chosen by the United States as the venue for the 2023 APEC Summit Week. Located on the Pacific coast, San Francisco has become an economic and cultural "bridge" connecting the United States and Asia, with more than 1/3 of the population being Asian Americans.

The city owns the wonders of the Golden Gate Bridge, Lombard Street, San Francisco Bay, Silicon Valley, is also the "cradle" of the creative industry, a global pioneer, a destination, the headquarters of the world's leading technology companies and corporations, including Google, Facebook, Apple.

In this beautiful city, President Vo Van Thuong, along with senior leaders of 21 APEC member economies and guests, discussed issues of key significance to the world and regional economies.

Speaking at the 30th APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting - the highlight event of the Summit Week, proposing APEC's operational direction, President Vo Van Thuong affirmed the importance of trade liberalization.

The head of the Vietnamese delegation suggested that APEC should focus on improving capacity, autonomy, creativity and application of science and technology, while building infrastructure, developing human resources, digital transformation models, and green transformation. And especially, cooperating to build a self-reliant region, each self-reliant economy, ready to respond to challenges.

In an interview with reporters accompanying the delegation, Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son said that Vietnam's outstanding contribution was the ideas and proposals of President Vo Van Thuong to respond to urgent issues of the world economy, especially the requirement for a new, inclusive, harmonious and humane way of thinking. These ideas and viewpoints were highly appreciated by leaders and the business community and included in the documents of the Conference, thereby opening up new directions for APEC cooperation.

Delivering the keynote speech at the most anticipated event of APEC High-Level Week - APEC CEO Summit 2023, President Vo Van Thuong called on the business community to join Vietnam in consulting and proposing policies; transferring modern solutions, technologies, and new economic models with the policy of taking quality, efficiency, high technology and environmental protection as top criteria.

The head of the Vietnamese delegation to APEC 2023 said: “I hope that all APEC members will uphold the spirit of cooperation, responsibility, and multilateralism, put aside differences to jointly resolve difficulties and overcome challenges for peace, cooperation, and development in the region and the world. Vietnam is ready to join APEC members and the Asia-Pacific business community in building a bright future for all people.”

Inclusive, harmonious and humane thinking continued to be mentioned by the President at the Indo-Pacific Economic Cooperation Framework (IPEF) Senior Leaders' Meeting.

According to the President, IPEF needs to remain an open, inclusive, non-discriminatory cooperation mechanism, supporting a multilateral trade system based on rules, meeting development needs, balancing the interests of all parties; respecting and taking into account the differences and specific characteristics of each country...

Notably, at the APEC 2023 Summit Week, on behalf of the State and people of Vietnam - the 11th largest economy in Asia, among the top 40 largest economies in the world, President Vo Van Thuong officially proposed that Vietnam host the activities of APEC Year 2027.

All APEC members expressed their appreciation for Vietnam's practical and constructive contributions to APEC over the past two decades and affirmed their confidence in Vietnam's role as APEC Chair in 2027.

According to Minister Bui Thanh Son, in the context of complicated developments in the world and the region, this proposal has affirmed Vietnam's commitment to multilateralism, the Asia-Pacific region in general and the APEC Forum in particular. This also demonstrates the determination to proactively and actively implement the policy of comprehensive and extensive international integration, being a friend, a reliable partner and a responsible member of the international community, contributing to the successful implementation of the Resolution of the 13th National Party Congress.

By hosting APEC 2027 for the third time, Vietnam once again demonstrates its strategic vision for the Asia-Pacific region and is a vivid demonstration of the trust of APEC members as well as the international community in Vietnam's role and position in the international arena.

High-tech cooperation and local connection

Carrying out bilateral activities in the United States right after the two countries established a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, during the trip, President Vo Van Thuong and his delegation carried out many specific activities to implement the Joint Statement between the two countries on high-tech cooperation, Green Economy and local connectivity as core content.

The highlight event that left a strong impression of President Vo Van Thuong in the United States this time was the policy exchange with US experts, researchers, diplomats and journalists held at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) - a leading prestigious independent research and consulting organization on foreign policy and international relations in the United States.

In a speech that was considered “very impressive” at the CFR, the President affirmed: “Never before has the relationship between Vietnam and the United States developed as well as it does today; from former enemies to Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. This is truly a model in the history of international relations in healing and building post-war relations. This result is due to the joint efforts of many generations of leaders and people of the two countries to overcome historical challenges and ups and downs.”

Referring to the motto of "putting the past behind, overcoming differences, promoting similarities, and looking toward the future," President Vo Van Thuong affirmed that the United States is a partner of strategic importance in Vietnam's foreign policy.

Also during the exchange at CFR, expressing his views on the role of Vietnamese Americans in the process of promoting cooperation between the two countries, the President pointed out that the country's achievements in the past 40 years of renovation have partly been contributed by overseas Vietnamese in the United States.

The Head of State welcomes and hopes that Vietnamese people in the United States will actively return to Vietnam to witness the reality and changes of the country. The President said, “Seeing is believing.” Vietnamese people in the United States returning to Vietnam will certainly be happy with the changes in the country in recent times.

Listening to the speech and discussion of President Vo Van Thuong at CFR, American history professor Larry Berman - a prestigious scholar, author of many books about Vietnam, including the famous work: X6 - Perfect Spy, published in Vietnamese by Thong Tan Publishing House, granted a quick interview to the reporter.

According to this researcher, President Vo Van Thuong had a very successful exchange, frankly answering questions that "touched the core issues" of Vietnam's foreign policy. Professor Larry Berman said: "I think President Vo Van Thuong did very well."

Notably, in discussions with CFR scholars and in meetings with US politicians and businesses, President Vo Van Thuong repeatedly mentioned a very specific recommendation so that the Joint Statement between the two countries can be fully and substantially implemented. Accordingly, the President proposed that the US soon recognize the market economy mechanism for Vietnam. And this needs to be done through political decisions in the spirit of Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. Along with that, the US needs to soon remove the classification of Vietnam in the group of countries that restrict the export of chips and semiconductors.

This content, along with promoting connection and cooperation between localities, continued to be discussed in depth by the President throughout the activities in California during the working trip.

During meetings with the Governor of California, the Deputy Mayor of Los Angeles, and leaders of two leading technology companies, Boeing and Apple, President Vo Van Thuong mentioned the importance of high-tech cooperation, digital economy, and green economy between the two countries.

In particular, the President hoped and requested local leaders and US businesses to step up promotion of connection, exchange, investment and trade activities with Vietnam's strong localities, considering this a breakthrough direction to implement the Vietnam-US Joint Statement.

Local connection and high-tech cooperation are also the contents of a series of cooperation agreements signed at the Roundtable Discussion between businesses and localities of the two countries.

Speaking here, the President said that high-level agreements and cooperation can only become reality and produce results when there is close connection between businesses, educational institutions and localities of the two countries. The President stated that Vietnam welcomes US investors to invest in areas that Vietnam is interested in such as chip production, semiconductors, green economy, digital economy, cashless payments, etc.

John Neuffer, President of the Semiconductor Industry Association of the United States, said that Vietnamese leaders are very interested in the high-tech sector, especially the semiconductor industry. Mr. John Neuffer highly appreciated Vietnam's current policy on this issue and hoped that Vietnam would soon take concrete steps to strongly attract investment capital from US businesses in this field.

It can be seen that the bilateral activities of President Vo Van Thuong in California, USA demonstrate the importance and efforts of both sides in strengthening and consolidating political trust, promoting the Vietnam-US Comprehensive Strategic Partnership to become increasingly deeper and more substantive; bringing benefits to the people of the two countries, contributing to the consolidation of peace, stability, cooperation and development in the region and the world.

Highly appreciating the results of President Vo Van Thuong's four-day visit to the United States with a series of bilateral and multilateral activities, Professor Larry Berman said that President Vo Van Thuong's participation in the APEC 2023 Summit Week and bilateral activities with the United States affirmed Vietnam's special position in the international arena; at the same time, it showed the urgency of implementing the commitments of the Vietnam-US Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. Professor Larry Berman emphasized: "We need to turn commitments into action".