During their stay, the delegation paid a courtesy visit to Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Sinh Hung, met with Defence Minister Phung Quang Thanh and held talks with Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Pham Binh Minh.

Both sides exchanged views of related issues, and international and regional issues of mutual concern.

They shared an idea that the Vietnam-US relations over the past time have gained positive results in various fields. They said they were optimistic about the prospect of the bilateral cooperation and agreed to step up the relations in all fields for the sake of the two nations and contributing to peace, stability and development cooperation in Southeast Asia and the Asia-Pacific region.

The US side praised Vietnam’s development in recent times, and affirmed their wish to boost cooperation with the country in various fields.

They expressed thanks to Vietnam for effective cooperation in seeking missing-in-actions (MIAs) and stressed that the US would further its humanitarian aid to Vietnam through programmes and projects on mine clearance, provision of information related to Vietnamese missing in wars, and dealing with Agent Orange/Dioxin aftermaths.

The US side also pledged support for Vietnam, as the latter will assume the ASEAN presidency in 2010.

The Vietnamese side highly valued the US’s efforts to boost the bilateral relations over the past decade, saying the ties have been strengthened in various fields in the spirit of the joint statements made by the two countries’ top leaders.

The Vietnamese officials thanked the US government and people for their assistance and suggested that the US further help Vietnam to overcome the aftermath of war including consequences of AO/Dioxin.

The same day, Deputy Secretary Steinberg held a press briefing to inform the delegation’s activities in Vietnam.