State President wraps up successful US tour

In his last day in the US, President Nguyễn Minh Triết had meetings with the California Assembly Speaker, California Senate President and some city mayors in California. President Nguyễn Minh Triết clearly asserted that Vietnam always attaches great importance to the relationship with California State which has founded close ties with many localities in Vietnam. The Vietnamese Head of State expressed his wish that leaders of California will continue helping the Vietnamese community settle and develop in the state.

Earlier in the morning of June 23 (local time), President Nguyễn Minh Triết attended and delivered a speech at the US-Vietnam Business Forum in Los Angeles. Addressing over 300 Vietnamese and American businesspeople, the President emphasized that his successful meeting with the US counterpart opens new opportunities for strengthening bilateral cooperation, especially in economy, trade and investment. He called for the business community to promote information sharing and cooperation for their own interests and the friendship between the two countries.
The Vietnamese President also received and had dialogue with representatives of 20 large businesses in California on the same day. He affirmed that, for Vietnam, California is a strategic partner in terms of trade, investment, finance, science and tourism. The Vietnam-California ties are increasingly broadened and developed. Vietnam is becoming an attractive market for many US enterprises, especially those from California. At present, over 50% of Vietnamese exports to the US come through the ports in California. Besides, more than a half of 1.5 Vietnamese Americans settle in California, including those with close relatives in the motherland. They are expected to contribute to the relationship between the California and Vietnamese business communities.

President Nguyễn Minh Triết stated that the Vietnamese State wants to build up and promote the Vietnam-California relation as a model in the new stage. He hoped that the US business community in general and California enterprises in particular will play an important role in laying the foundation for the Vietnam-US bilateral cooperation.

Assessing the outcomes of his official US tour, President Nguyễn Minh Triết said that he and his US counterpart reached consensus on many issues, particularly the strengthened friendship and solidarity between the two nations. The two leaders agreed to promote exchanges at all levels and fortify economic ties to facilitate Vietnamese products' entry into the US market as well as attract more US investors to Vietnam. The two sides pledged to speed up cooperation in science and technology, education, health, HIV/AIDS control, humanitarian issues, detoxification of dioxin-contaminated areas and assistance to Agent Orange-infected victims.

About the issues of different opinions, President Nguyễn Minh Triết stated that he had frank and open talks to President George W. Bush and meetings with US legislators during which the two sides agreed to increase dialogues to reach a better mutual understanding and sympathy.

By Xuân Hồng