Vietnam-U.S. Comprehensive Partnership Extensive and Effective Cooperation

Vietnam and the United States officially established diplomatic relations in 1995 and a Comprehensive Partnership on July 25, 2013. Over the past 10 years, the Vietnam-U.S. Comprehensive Partnership has developed extensively, effectively, and substantively at all three levels: bilaterally, regionally, and internationally. The two countries have maintained regular contacts, dialogues, and high-level exchange visits. In joint statements, the two sides affirmed their respect for the United Nations Charter, international law, and each other’s independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity, and political institutions.

National Assembly (NA) Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue said the NA vowed to create a stable, transparent and favorable legal framework for foreign enterprises, including those from the U.S. while he received a delegation of high-ranking businesses from the U.S.-ASEAN Business Council, March 2023

After 28 years of diplomatic relations, the relationship between the two countries has developed strongly in depth and in breadth in all fields of economy, trade, investment, society, science and technology, education, and people-to-people exchanges, on the basis of friendship, mutual respect, and mutual benefits.

The U.S. has become Vietnam’s leading economic partner. The remarkable development of the Vietnam-U.S. relationship has seen economic and trade ties as the mainstay and a driving force for strong cooperation between the two countries. Bilateral trade grew from US$29.7 billion in 2013 to nearly US$139 billion in 2022. The U.S. is Vietnam’s largest export market, while Vietnam is among the U.S.’s top 10 trading partners. U.S. foreign direct investment in Vietnam has reached over US$11 billion with more than 1,200 projects, ranking 11th among countries and territories investing in Vietnam.

In July 2013, Vietnamese President Truong Tan Sang (L) visited the U.S. at the invitation of President Barack Obama (R), 
during which the two countries established a comprehensive partnership

The past 10 years have witnessed the strong development of the Vietnam-U.S. Comprehensive Partnership. Mutual visits between the leaders of the two countries have been held regularly. The people-to-people relations between Vietnam and the U.S. have also developed rapidly, with an increasing number of scholars, officers, students, and tourists visiting the two countries. In 2013, Vietnam welcomed 537,000 tourists from the U.S. By 2019, right before the COVID-19 pandemic, this number had increased to 750,000. In the first two months of 2023, there were 150,000 U.S. tourists to Vietnam. In reverse, the number of Vietnamese applying for U.S. visas has increased by approximately 250% over the past 10 years. Since 2013, the U.S. Embassy and Consulate General in Vietnam have issued more than 1.2 million tourist visas, including 256,000 visas for students. Currently, Vietnamese students constitute the 5th largest group of foreign students in the U.S.

Vietnam and the U.S. have also continued to promote bilateral defense and security cooperation. In 2017 and 2021, the U.S. delivered two Hamilton-class patrol boats to the Vietnam Coast Guard under its Excess Defense Articles (EDA) Program.

Vietnam always considers the U.S. one of its most important partners and wants to promote the comprehensive partnership with the U.S. on the basis of respecting each other’s independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity, and political institutions. Vietnam hopes that, in the coming time, the bilateral comprehensive partnership will continue to develop strongly on the basis of mutual benefits to increase growth and create jobs for both countries, contributing to maintaining peace, stability, cooperation, and development in the region and around the world.

Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son (R) receives U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, April 2023 

Vietnam and the U.S. are both members of a number of international organizations, including the United Nations, the ASEAN Regional Forum, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and the World Trade Organization. Vietnam assumed the roles of non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council for the 2020-2021 tenure and the ASEAN Chair for the year 2020.

During the seminar “10 Years of Vietnam-United States Comprehensive Partnership: Reflection and Prospect” organized by the Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics in collaboration with the U.S. Embassy in Vietnam, the U.S. Ambassador to Vietnam Marc E. Knapper expressed hope that the two countries will work together, not only bilaterally but also multilaterally, to “create a future of peace, prosperity, and security for the peoples of the two countries”. He affirmed that the U.S. has always strongly supported Vietnam in becoming a regional leader, especially during the ASEAN Chairmanship Year 2020. The U.S. considers building stronger ties with ASEAN and advocating ASEAN centrality as vital to its Indo-Pacific Strategy. In 2022, the U.S. and ASEAN announced an upgrade in their ties to a comprehensive strategic partnership. The Indo-Pacific Strategy also names Vietnam as one of the U.S.’s leading regional partners.

By Quynh Anh, Vietnam Business Forum