PANO – The Vietnamese Defence Minister, General Phung Quang Thanh, received the US Ambassador to Vietnam, Mr. David Shear on May 26^th at the Defence Ministry Headquarters.

At the meeting, the two senior officials exchanged information about situations in their countries, reviewed the bilateral relations between Vietnam and the USA and especially highlighted defence cooperation and defence ties between the two defence organisations.

The Vietnamese Defence Minister highly valued the new developments in Vietnam-USA relations in recent times, especially in defence and security.

He underlined the memorandum of understanding (MoU) on defence cooperation signed in September 2011 by the two defence organisations, which focuses on 5 main areas: the establishment of regular high-level dialogues between the two defence organisations; maritime security; search and rescue; humanitarian aid and natural disaster relief; studies and exchanges of experiences in peacekeeping operations.

In addition, in the document, the two sides agreed to enhance cooperation in several other areas, such as training, overcoming war aftermaths and detecting and defusing bombs, mines and explosives left by the war in Vietnam, the Vietnamese Defence Minister added.

He also briefed the visiting US Ambassador on Vietnam’s preparations for the upcoming visit to Vietnam by US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta.

The US Ambassador thanked the Vietnamese Defence Minister for his reception and affirmed that the US Administration always attaches importance to its defence and security ties with Vietnam.

He also believed that the two Defence organisations are on the way to realising cooperation contents of the MoU and that the bilateral defence and security ties between Vietnam and the USA would be strengthened in the future.