Vietnamese Minister of Foreign Affairs Bùi Thanh Sơn (right) had talks with the visiting  Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Samantha Power. — Photo from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs

HÀ NỘI — Minister of Foreign Affairs Bùi Thanh Sơn received visiting Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Samantha Power in Hà Nội on Friday.

Highly appreciating the sound coordination between USAID and Vietnamese agencies and sectors, including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Sơn expressed his delight at the strong growth of the Việt Nam-US ties.

USAID has actively contributed to Việt Nam’s socio-economic development through development assistance projects in war aftermath recovery, health care, education, and governance capacity building for localities and businesses, he said.

The minister stated that the implementation of these projects in Việt Nam vividly demonstrated the increasing effectiveness and development of the Việt Nam-US comprehensive partnership on the basis of mutual respect for each other's independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity and political institutions for the sake of their people, contributing to peace, stability, cooperation and development in the region and the world.

For her part, Power thanked the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the minister himself for supporting USAID’s operations in Việt Nam.

The official said she was pleased to visit and witness the results of USAID projects, including a ceremony to hand over the dioxin-decontaminated area in Biên Hoà airbase to the Vietnamese side on March 7.

Power said USAID will continue to focus on solving war legacy issues, including the dioxin decontamination at the Biên Hoà airbase, and DNA testing capacity improvement for Vietnamese scientists to search and identify the remains of Vietnamese soldiers.

The agency will help Việt Nam improve health and social services serving the better quality of life for people with disabilities; mitigate the effects of climate change; develop sustainably; and develop its human resource and health infrastructure in response to infectious diseases, she noted. — VNS