Vietnam welcomes US VP Harris's visit

By Vu Anh   August 5, 2021 | 02:01 am PT
Vietnam welcomes US VP Harris's visit
Kamala Harris will become the first sitting U.S. vice president ever to visit Vietnam. Photo by AFP/Mandel Ngan.
Vietnam is working with the U.S. to prepare for the visit by U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris to Vietnam, the Foreign Affairs Ministry's spokeswoman said Thursday.

"We welcome countries' leaders, including the U.S.'s, to visit Vietnam," spokeswoman Le Thi Thu Hang said at a press meet.

Hang said agencies in Vietnam and the U.S. are coordinating to make preparations for the visit in manners to boost the countries' comprehensive partnership and contribute to peace, stability and development in the region and the world.

Harris's senior advisor Symone Sanders said in a statement on July 30 that she will head to Vietnam and Singapore "to strengthen relationships and expand economic cooperation with two critical Indo-Pacific partners of the United States."

Harris, an Asian-American whose mother was of Indian origin, will be the first U.S. vice president to visit Vietnam.

Sanders said Washington has a "top priority to rebuild our global partnerships and keep our nation secure, and this upcoming visit continues that work -- deepening our engagement in Southeast Asia."

Harris will engage with the two countries' leaders on regional security, the global response to the pandemic, actions to address climate change, "and our joint efforts to promote a rules-based international order."

Her visit to Vietnam comes following one by Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, who was in Hanoi on July 28 and 29 as part of a trip that also included Manila and Singapore.

 
 
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