(VOVworld) – Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh said Vietnam is ready to cooperate with the US on the basis of respect for each other’s political institutions in the interests of their two peoples as well as regional and global peace and stability.

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh (L) and US National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster (Photo: Vietnamese Foreign Ministry)

Mr. Minh who was in the US on Thursday and Friday for an official visit met Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster, and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. At those meetings, Minh affirmed Vietnam’s consistency in pursuing an independent, multilateral, and diversified foreign policy, adding that Vietnam and the US should cooperate in trade, education, training, science, technology, security, and defense. Deputy PM Minh conveyed President Tran Dai Quang’s letter, inviting President Donald Trump to APEC Summit 2017 in Vietnam.

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh and US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin (Photo: Vietnamese Foreign Ministry)

Mr. Tillerson and Mr. McMaster said the new US government will continue to support comprehensive partnership with Vietnam and called for exchanges at all levels. They stressed the importance of maintaining maritime security and freedom of navigation in the East Sea, resolving disputes by peaceful means in line with international law, particularly the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, and the Declaration of Conduct of Parties in the East Sea toward a related Code of Conduct.