The signing ceremony took place at the Ministry of National Defence headquarters in Hanoi, co-chaired by Senior Lieutenant General Hoang Xuan Chien, Member of the Party Central Committee, Member of the Standing Committee of the Central Military Commission, Deputy Minister of National Defence, and Head of the Office of the Standing Agency of the National Steering Committee on the Settlement of Post-war Unexploded Ordnance and Toxic Chemical Consequences (Office 701), and US Ambassador to Vietnam Marc Evans Knapper.

The MoU builds on previous agreements, including the 2023 Vietnam-US Joint Statement on upgrading bilateral relations to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership for peace, cooperation, and sustainable development, the 2024 Vietnam-US Joint Vision Statement on Defence Cooperation, and the 2011 MoU between the Vietnamese Ministry of National Defence and the US Department of War, updated in 2022.

It aims to intensify cooperation in five key areas: remediation of contamination from post-war mines and explosives; improving the quality of life for persons with disabilities, particularly in provinces heavily affected by Agent Orange; handling war-related dioxin contamination at Bien Hoa Airport; supporting the search, recovery, and identification of Vietnamese war martyrs’ remains; and providing comprehensive cooperation in searching US servicemen missing in action in Vietnam.

Implementation will focus on sharing information, documents, and artifacts, exchanging experience, providing training and workshops, applying scientific research and technology, facilitating delegations and conferences, conducting media activities, and carrying out projects in line with the MoU’s objectives. Both countries have established working groups to ensure effective coordination, with the Vietnamese team led by the Head of Office 701 and the US team headed by the US Political Counsellor in Vietnam representing the Department of State alongside senior officials representing the US Department of War.

Senior Lieutenant General Hoang Xuan Chien highlighted the significance of the MoU, noting that it coincides with the 30th anniversary of Vietnam-US diplomatic relations. He praised the close cooperation between Vietnamese and US agencies which has yielded substantial results, including the successful remediation of dioxin-contaminated areas at Da Nang Airport and ongoing work at Bien Hoa Airport, support for over 30,000 Agent Orange victims and people with disabilities in heavily affected provinces, the recovery and repatriation of more than 990 sets of remains of US servicemen missing in action, and multiple capacity-building training for personnel involved in post-war mine remediation.

US partners have also provided approximately 800,000 pages of documents and artifacts related to Vietnamese servicemen killed or missing in action to support search and recovery efforts.

These achievements shows the political will of the Vietnamese Government, the Ministry of National Defence, and relevant agencies, alongside the strong cooperation and goodwill of the US side.

Senior Lieutenant General Hoang Xuan Chien affirmed that the MoU demonstrates a firm commitment between the US Department of War, the US Department of State, and the Ministry of National Defence of Vietnam – Office 701 to bolster cooperation on post-war remediation.

He expressed confidence that the MoU will serve as a foundation for continued close cooperation, yielding meaningful results, accelerating the completion of war aftermath remediation, and reinforcing trust in the Vietnam-US Comprehensive Strategic Partnership for peace, cooperation, and sustainable development.

Ambassador Marc Evans Knapper, impressed with the achievements of bilateral post-war remediation cooperation, emphasized that the United States acknowledges and values Vietnam’s contributions, particularly in the search for US servicemen missing in action.

He stressed that the signing of the MoU reconfirms the strong cooperative spirit between the two countries and lays a solid foundation for further advancing bilateral relations across multiple fields in the future.

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