HCMC – U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris arrived in Hanoi last night, August 24, for a three-day official visit to Vietnam at the invitation of Vietnamese Vice State President Vo Thi Anh Xuan.
As planned, Harris will meet with Vietnamese leaders before attending a ceremony to inaugurate an office of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Southeast Asia which is located in Hanoi and a signing ceremony of an agreement to lease land for the new headquarters of the U.S. Embassy in Vietnam, the local media reported.
She will also meet with representatives of social organizations specializing in environmental protection, female empowerment and the rights of the disabled and the LGBTQI+ community.
On August 28, Harris will host a press briefing on the results of her visit to Vietnam and the future of the Vietnam-U.S. comprehensive partnership.
The two countries’ cooperation in economy, trade and investment has been stably thriving. Vietnam’s exports to the U.S. in the first half this year reached US$45 billion, and the United States was the largest importer of Vietnam’s products in the period.
As of last year, the United States ranked 11th among the 135 countries and territories investing in Vietnam. Large U.S. firms have still been keen on the Vietnamese market.
The two sides have also boosted the cooperation in the healthcare sector and response to the Covid-19 pandemic. They have supported each other in medical equipment, vaccines and experiences in the fight against the pandemic.
The United States has pledged to provide Vietnam with US$20.9 million to combat the pandemic.
In addition, the United States has supplied Vietnam with the most Covid-19 vaccines so far, including more than four million Pfizer doses (including three million doses through the Covax Facility) and five million Moderna doses.
