Vietnam prioritizes cooperation with the State of Oregon within the framework of the comprehensive partnership with the US, as the latter is one of the US’s economic, industrial, and science-technology hubs and home to a large Vietnamese community.

State President Nguyen Xuan Phuc and Oregon State Governor Kate Brown. Source: VNA

State President Nguyen Xuan Phuc highlighted this orientation during a meeting with Oregon State Governor Kate Brown today [November 14].

Phuc welcomed Brown's second visit to Vietnam at the meeting and thanked her for his great affection for the country.

Phuc noted the US remained the most important partner of Vietnam with a bilateral trade turnover of US$120 billion in 2021.

“Vietnam expects to strengthen the comprehensive partnership with the US further,” he added.

In this context, Oregon has become a key partner for Vietnam, as both sides are stepping up efforts to realize commitments under the Letter of Intent for cooperation between Vietnam’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Oregon.

Other partners from Oregon, such as Portland University, Intel, and Nike, have established practical cooperation with Vietnam.

For her part, Brown highlighted Vietnam's position as a potential market for Oregon and looked forward to intensifying trade relations between the two sides.

She also stressed the close partnership between Oregon and Vietnam in the fields of search and rescue, noting the cooperation is significant given the growing climate change complications.

Brown referred to the ongoing cooperation between Portland University and Vietnam, saying the university would give the utmost support to Vietnamese students while expressing her wish for more student exchanges between the two countries' universities.

For the coming time, Brown expected Oregon to foster cooperation with Vietnamese partners in fields of education, especially in teaching programs related to semi-conductor and other manufacturing sectors.

Meanwhile, both sides shared the same view on energy development and noted this could be a potential field for cooperation in the coming time.

State President Phuc agreed with proposals from the Oregon State Governor, adding the potential for cooperation between the two sides remains huge.

“Vietnam would create favorable conditions for businesses from Oregon to invest in Vietnam,” Phuc said, expecting US companies to support local businesses in training the high-quality workforce and transfer technologies.

He added education cooperation as a decisive factor for Vietnam to push for digitalization and welcome closer collaboration between universities from the two sides.

Other fields of cooperation were also mentioned by the State President, including climate change response, cultural-tourism exchanges, and people-to-people diplomacy, for which he expected such an effort would lay the foundation for sustainable cooperation between Vietnam and Oregon.

Hanoi eyes partnership with Oregon in urban development

On the same day, Chairman of the Hanoi People’s Committee Tran Sy Thanh held a meeting with Oregon State Governor Kate Brown.

Hanoi's Mayor Tran Sy Thanh and Oregon State Governor Kate Brown. Photo: The Hanoi Times

According to Thanh, Hanoi hopes to strengthen comprehensive cooperation with the US in general and Oregon in particular in education, healthcare, culture, urban development, and transportation.

Thanh highlighted the State's investment support and cooperation in Vietnam over the years, including in Hanoi.

Hanoi, as the capital, remains a political-cultural center of Vietnam and contributes significantly to the national socio-economic development.

With a population of about 10 million, Thanh said the city is striving to improve its governance and urban development capacity, prioritizing enhancing the quality of the workforce and people's living standards.

The mayor added that Hanoi is adjusting overall planning until 2050, which will help the city meet the challenges of urban transportation and environmental protection and promote high-tech industrial sectors in the future.

For her part, Oregon State Governor Kate Brown expressed her affection for the country and Vietnamese people.

Brown shared Thanh’s view on the potential for bilateral cooperation, especially in experience sharing in urban management, education, environment, transport, or tourism.

In her second visit to Hanoi, Brown also expressed her impression of Hanoi's dynamism and development, adding that the city holds numerous advantages for further growth.

Brown noted that Oregon is willing to cooperate with Hanoi in developing public transportation and smart urban planning, in which the state has a wealth of experience.

The governor also recalled ongoing cooperative programs between Oregon and Vietnam in trade, retail, education, and climate response and looked forward to more remarkable results in the future with Hanoi's support.

She referred to the recent 10^th anniversary of the cooperation between the Oregon National Guard and the National Committee for Search and Rescue (VINASARCOM)  in disaster response and searched and rescue operations and hoped that the two sides would strengthen cooperation in this area in the future.