President Tran Dai Quang and US President Donald Trump at a joint press conference in Hanoi on November 12, 2017 (VNA)

The two leaders reaffirmed their intent to continue high-level contacts and exchanges of delegations, and to strengthen existing dialogue mechanisms, including party-to-party dialogues. They pledged to deepen and expand the bilateral trade and investment relationship through formal mechanisms, including the Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA). They welcomed the announcement of more than 12 billion USD in new commercial agreements during President Trump’s visit and welcomed expanding bilateral energy ties.

The two leaders underscored their commitment to deepen defense cooperation and shared resolve to address regional security challenges. President Tran Dai Quang thanked the United States government for the transfer of a Hamilton-class Coast Guard cutter to help improve Vietnam’s maritime security and law enforcement capabilities. Both leaders welcomed the plan for the first visit to a Vietnamese port by a United States aircraft carrier in 2018. They affirmed the 2018 – 2020 Plan of Action for US – Vietnam Defense Cooperation to implement the 2011 Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on Advancing Bilateral Defense Cooperation and the 2015 Joint Vision Statement on Defense Relations, strengthening bilateral defense relations in areas of maritime security, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, peacekeeping operations, and overcoming war legacy issues.

The two presidents underscored that the two countries would deepen and gradually expand security and intelligence cooperation, enhancing information sharing and joint training on issues of mutual concern. They reaffirmed the importance of continued cooperation to address the legacies of war and enhancing people-to-people ties to strengthen mutual understanding, cooperation and friendship between the two peoples.

The two leaders discussed and welcomed initiatives to preserve peace and stability and to advance cooperation and development in the Indo-Pacific. They recognized the central role of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in the region, and pledged to respect and to support the centrality and unity of ASEAN in the evolving regional architecture. Both sides committed to deepening the US – ASEAN Strategic Partnership based on the principles outlined in the 2016 Sunnylands Declaration.

Both leaders expressed grave concern over the DPRK’s nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs and tests, which violate United Nations Security Council resolutions and threaten international peace and security. They urged all countries around the world to fully and strictly implement all relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions, and agreed to deepen bilateral cooperation to ensure their effective enforcement.

The two leaders underscored the strategic importance to the international community of free and open access to the East Sea, the importance of unimpeded lawful commerce, and the need to respect freedom of navigation and over-flight, and other lawful uses of the sea. The two sides reiterated the stance on the East Sea in the previous Vietnam - US and ASEAN - US Joint statements. They called for the full and effective implementation of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC), and an early conclusion to an effective, legally binding Code of Conduct for the East Sea (COC).