Hanoi (VNA) – Over the past decade, Vietnam and theUS have made great efforts together to promote prosperity for their people,US Ambassador to Vietnam Marc E. Knapper told the media on theoccasion of the 10th anniversary of the Vietnam-US comprehensivepartnership (July 25, 2013-2023).

He said Vietnam and the US have deepened their cooperationtremendously in all fields such as trade and investment, health care, climate,people-to-people and cultural exchanges, education, defence, security,law enforcement, and science technology.

The US hopes to work with Vietnam to strengthen peace andstability in the region, ensuring a free and open Indo-Pacific in general and afree and open East Sea in particular, he said.

“We share with Vietnam values such as respecting eachother's political systems and respect for each other's sovereignty and territorial integrity,” he stated, adding that “we want aVietnam that is strong, independent prosperous, and resilient.”

Regarding bilateral trade cooperation, the diplomat notedthat trade between the two countries has reached nearly 140 billion USD peryear.

“Although you see different figures, but basically it's grown over 300 times, a huge number in the last 10 years,” he said.

Two-way trade has increased more than 300 times from only 450 millionUSD in 1995, when the two countries normalised their relations, to nearly 140 billion USD in 2022, he clarified, underlining that Vietnam is the eighth largest tradepartner and the biggest ASEAN exporter of the US.

Vietnam mostly exports machinery, electronic equipment,textiles, footwear, seafood, wood and wood products to the US.

The ambassador said that for many years, the US has been thelargest investor in Vietnam, and many US businesses are interested in theVietnamese market. The US is willing to promote cooperation with Vietnam in thefields of Vietnam’s demand such as infrastructure, supply chain development,and digital economy, said Knapper.

The two sides have also worked closely together inresponding to COVID-19, post-pandemic recovery, science-technology, educationand environment, he noted.

The US provided 40 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines toVietnam, while putting its regional CDC office in Hanoi, he said.

He said that there are over 30,000 Vietnamese students inthe US, making Vietnam the fifth largest source of foreign students in thecountry. Many US education projects have been successful in Vietnam, including FulbrightUniversity and Peace Corps programmes, he said.

The US has also coordinated with Vietnam in dealing with waraftermaths, enhancing law enforcement at sea, and joining peacekeeping operations, andcriminal prevention and combat, underlined the ambassador, adding that the twosides have worked closely together at multilateral forums to solve regional andinternational issues of mutual concern, including sustainable development andclimate change response.

Regarding his plan to promote bilateral ties in the future,Ambassador Knapper underscored that he will continue to focus on educationcooperation with Vietnam, seeking ways to bring more Vietnamese students to the USand get more American young people to Vietnam.

“I want to see more American students, come here and studyand hopefully make friends and build bridges in their own way here in Vietnam,”he stated.

He also mentioned cooperation in health care, especiallywhen more US firms show interest in building their factories in Vietnam./.