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Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung welcomed US Senator John McCain’s visit to Vietnam, saying he believed that the visit will contribute to increasing mutual understanding and multifaceted cooperation between the two countries.
Receiving the visiting US Senator in Hanoi on April 7, PM Dung expressed his pleasure at the development of bilateral cooperation, especially in economics, trade and investment.
Two-way trade between Vietnam and the US reached 15 billion USD in 2008, with the US being one of the Southeast Asian nation’s largest investors. However, the PM said, the two countries have greater potential of cooperation and they should further boost cooperation for the benefit of the two peoples.
PM Dung asked the US Senator to back Vietnam in its bids to receive the Generalised System Preferences (GSP) treatment and in its fight against climate change, crime, and HIV/AIDS.
Senator McCain said the two countries should strengthen cooperation in the fields of their strength.
Receiving the US Senator on the same day, Chairman of the National Assembly Nguyen Phu Trong highly appreciated the US politician’s contribution to normalising and boosting Vietnam-US relations.
He said he hoped that the Senator would make more efforts to promote ties between the two countries and legislative bodies.
The US Senator is also expected to pose more impact on the US Government for soon recognising Vietnam as a market economy and granting GSP to Vietnam as well as encourage US investors to come to the country.
The US Senator expressed his pleasure to witness the progress made by Vietnam in the economic area as well as in other areas.
He spoke highly of the Vietnamese legislative body’s effort to renovate its operations, including live televising its sessions.
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