VIETNAM-USA/KERRY U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry visits Vietnam to celebrate 20th anniversary of relations

Record ID: 144733

  • Title: VIETNAM-USA/KERRY U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry visits Vietnam to celebrate 20th anniversary of relations
  • Date: 7th August 2015
  • Summary: HANOI, VIETNAM (AUGUST 7, 2015) (REUTERS) AMERICAN AND VIETNAMESE FLAGS NEXT TO A STATUE OF HO CHI MINH U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE, JOHN KERRY, WALKING IN KERRY AND VIETNAM PRESIDENT, TRUONG TAN SANG, SHAKING HANDS AMERICAN FLAG KERRY AND SANG IN THE MEETING ROOM SANG SPEAKING KERRY LISTENING MORE OF SANG AND KERRY KERRY SPEAKING SANG LISTENING MORE OF KERRY SPEAKING MORE OF
  • Embargoed: 22nd August 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Vietnam
  • Country: Vietnam
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVAEGGYFZS8TTN7JJSLAXIVQZADJ
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry visited Hanoi on Friday (August 7) to mark the 20th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Vietnam and the United States.
    The communist country's capital is Kerry's final stop in his Middle East and Southeast Asia tour.
    Kerry met with top Vietnamese leaders, including President Truong Tan Sang and Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh to discuss bilateral and regional issues.
    He is also scheduled to meet with Communist Party leader Nguyen Phu Trong, who made a first-ever visit to Washington last month as the head of Vietnam's ruling Communist Party. President Obama also accepted Trong's invitation to visit Vietnam.
    The U.S. and Vietnam are working together to help Vietnam improve its naval enforcement capabilities as Vietnam is among the Southeast Asian nations with competing claims with China over disputed areas of the South China Sea.
    "Our two governments also share an interest in freedom of navigation and peaceful resolution of disputes in the South China Sea. The United States has made it clear that we do not favour one set of claims over another - but we do support a process through which disputes can be resolved peacefully and in accordance with international law," Kerry remarked at an event marking the 20th anniversary of the normalization of U.S.-Vietnam diplomacy.
    Kerry came to Vietnam after attending a regional forum in Kuala Lumpur at which the U.S. called for a stop of China's reclamation projects in the disputed islands in the South China Sea where Beijing claims sole sovereignty.
    Prior to Vietnam, Secretary of State John Kerry visited Egypt, Qatar, Singapore and Malaysia during his tour.
    This is Kerry's second visit to Vietnam as Secretary of State - his first was in December 2013.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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