Mr Hung described the Senator’s visit to Vietnam as a significant contribution to promoting bilateral cooperation for mutual benefits and for the sake of peace and prosperity in the region and the world.

Vietnam and the US should further boost cooperation in science and technology, culture, tourism, environmental protection, national defence and security. The Vietnamese legislative body is ready to cooperate with the US Congress to speed up cooperative programmes between the two countries.

Both sides need to boost exchange activities among members of parliaments, cooperation at regional and global parliamentary forums and facilitate cross-cultural exchanges to promote mutual understanding between the two nations, Mr Hung said.

For his part, Senator McCain thanked the Vietnam NA for creating favourable conditions for US diplomatic agencies in Vietnam to develop cooperative programmes and projects.

He said he hopes the two legislative bodies will enhance cooperation and share experience in law making and supervision of national projects.

The Senator also pledged to closely follow and further support Vietnam’s socio-economic development in the future.

The same day, during his meeting with Vietnamese Minister of Foreign Affairs Pham Binh Minh, Mr McCain praised Vietnam’s achievements and progress in recent times as well as the strong development of bilateral ties between Vietnam and the US.

He said he was very happy to return to Vietnam and was really pleased with the constant development of bilateral relations in all fields.

Minister Minh thanked the US Government and Senator McCain for supporting Vietnam’s renewal and development process.

During the meeting, the two sides discussed bilateral cooperation and other issues of mutual concern.