VOV.VN - Vietnamese Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son and United States Secretary of State Anthony Blinken are scheduled to hold their first annual dialogue during the former’s current working trip to the US from March 23 to 29, in an effort to materialise the comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries.

Vietnamese Minisster of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son (R) and US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken meet during the latter's Hanoi visit in April 2023. (Photo: VGP)

The dialogue represents a new cooperation mechanism approved during US President Joe Biden’s visit to Vietnam last September and subsequently prescribed in the Joint Leaders’ Statement on the upgrading of bilateral relations to that of a comprehensive strategic partnership.

Both sides have established a number of dialogue mechanisms at ministerial and expert levels, with a specific focus on politics-security-defence, employment, energy security, science-technology, trade, and human rights, as well as Asia-Pacific cooperation in general.

These mechanisms have been working well, thereby contributing to promoting linkages between the two countries in priority areas of mutual concern, helping to share information, improve understanding, and narrow differences and disagreements that may exist, said Vietnamese Ambassador to the US Nguyen Quoc Dung.

The establishment of the comprehensive strategic partnership is expected to open up fresh collaboration opportunities between Vietnam and the US. The two countries have recently conducted regular exchanges to devise cooperation measures, especially in the fields of trade, finance, science-technology, education-training, and cooperation between localities.

The September 2023 joint statement outlined 10 pillars of collaboration that require closer and more effective ties between the two countries in order to clarify the comprehensive and strategic links in bilateral relations.

The dialogue between the two diplomatic chiefs is therefore expected to review the implementation of 10 pillars of cooperation outlined in the joint statement, figure out obstacles and hammer out measures in a bid to realise fields of cooperation, said the Ambassador in an interview with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ baoquocte.vn. 

Along with the dialogue, Minister Son is anticipated to meet with National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, hold working sessions with senior officials from the Department of State and the National Security Council, and receive representatives of a number of large US businesses.

He will also deliver an important speech at the Brookings Institution, a leading public policy organisation in the US, as a way of helping the American public to understand more about Vietnamese foreign policy, as well as progress in bilateral relations.