Top leader hosts reception for Admiral Samuel Paparo

The top Vietnamese leader said Paparo's visit, together with recent trips to Viet Nam by U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and Acting Secretary of the Navy Hung Cao, demonstrated that defense cooperation continues to serve as an important pillar of bilateral ties, helping deepen the Viet Nam–U.S. Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in a substantive and effective manner while contributing to peace and development in the region and the world.

To Lam spoke highly of the long-standing cooperation between USPACOM and Viet Nam, highlighting humanitarian partnership programs such as Pacific Partnership, Pacific Angel and Pacific Friendship, have left positive impressions on local communities.

Reaffirming that Viet Nam considers the U.S. one of its top strategic partners, General Secretary and President To Lam expressed his wish that both sides would continue effective realization of the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership framework, thereby advancing the bilateral relations in a more substantive, practical and effective manner for the benefit of the two nations' people.

The Vietnamese leader thanked U.S. President Donald Trump for the warm reception during his attendance at the inauguration of the Board of Peace in February 2026. He also reiterated his invitation to the U.S. President to pay an official visit to Viet Nam and attend the APEC Economic Leaders' Week in 2027.

Sharing President Trump's view on the need to conclude negotiations on a reciprocal trade agreement at an early date, To Lam called on the U.S. to soon conclude the Section 301 investigations and minimize extreme trade remedy measures that could negatively affect the overall bilateral relations.

He suggested the two countries expand mutually beneficial cooperation in science and technology, stressing that breakthroughs in science and technology, innovation and national digital transformation are among Viet Nam's top priorities in achieving its long-term growth objectives.

Regarding defense and security cooperation, the Vietnamese leader welcomed the positive progress made in recent times and suggested both sides effectively implement existing agreements in line with each country's needs and interests.

Highlighting the profound significance of cooperation in addressing war consequences, he urged the U.S. to maintain and expand support projects in this field, particularly initiatives to strengthen forensic identification capacity and provide documents and artifacts to accelerate the search, recovery and identification of Vietnamese war martyrs' remains.

General Secretary and President To Lam reaffirmed Viet Nam's commitment to continue to create the most favorabl conditions for the search of American personnel missing in action (MIA), noting that Viet Nam has consistently supported this humanitarian cooperation for more than half a century.

For his part, Paparo thanked Viet Nam for being among the first countries to join the Gaza Board of Peace initiative and reaffirmed that the U.S. attaches great importance to advancing relations with Vietnam.

He praised Viet Nam's growing international standing and increasingly important role within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the regional architecture. Sharing the Vietnamese leader's assessment, he underscored the vision of a free, open and secure Indo-Pacific and reaffirmed the U.S.'s commitment to strengthening ties with ASEAN while supporting ASEAN's centrality. He described the bloc, with a population of around 800 million and strong economic potential, as an increasingly important partner in the U.S.'s regional policy.

Paparo agreed with the Vietnamese leader's proposals on further advancing the bilateral ties and pledged that USPACOM would continue working closely with Viet Nam in implementing humanitarian assistance, disaster relief and maritime law enforcement capacity-building programs.

He appreciated Viet Nam's effective humanitarian assistance in searching for U.S. personnel missing in action, reaffirming the U.S.'s commitment to assisting Viet Nam in overcoming the consequences of war, including supporting the country's 500-day campaign to search for, recover and identify the remains of Vietnamese martyrs.

Comparing notes on regional and international issues, the two sides underscored the importance of maintaining peace, security, safety and freedom of navigation and aviation, while supporting the peaceful settlement of disputes in accordance with international law, particularly the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) 1982./.