Economic ties will be one of the pillars in the US-Vietnam relations in the time to come as reaffirmed by the two foreign ministers in the Thursday conversation.

Vietnam's Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh. Photo: MOFA

Trade and investment will be focused in addition to solving war legacies, science and technology, education and training, close coordination on Covid-19 response, climate adaptation, and improving maritime capacity in the phone talk between US Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken and Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh, according to the Vietnam’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Meanwhile, the US State Department’s Spokesperson Ned Price added that the two diplomats celebrated the remarkable progress in the bilateral relationship over the past 25 years of diplomatic relations.

They reaffirmed the strength of the US-Vietnam Comprehensive Partnership and discussed the two sides' shared commitment to peace and prosperity in a free and open Indo-Pacific region, and protecting and preserving a rules-based South China Sea (called East Sea by Vietnam).

Soon after holding his post, Blinken underscored that the US rejects China’s maritime claims in the South China Sea to the extent they exceed the maritime zones that China is permitted to claim under international law as reflected in the 1982 Law of the Sea Convention.

He pledged to stand with Southeast Asian claimants in the face of China’s pressure. The two secretaries committed to continue building upon a relationship founded on shared strategic interests and history, democratic values, and strong people-to-people ties, according to the US Department of State.