DAV President receives U.S. Assistant Secretary Philip Goldberg

HANOI 21/5 - A roundtable meeting was held in Hanoi on May 7, 2012 between the Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam (DAV) and the U.S. delegation headed by American Assistant Secretary Philip Goldberg. The meeting, chaired by DAV President Dang Dinh Quy, was participated by delegates from the DAV’s Institute for Foreign Policy and Strategy Studies (IFPSS) and representatives of other organizations under Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

At the meeting, the two sides exchanged views and assessed the importance of the Asia-Pacific region. The region, being a strategic area with many big powers and dynamic economies, is attracting great attention by the world. In that context, the United States (U.S.) has been actively promoting the policy of “re-balancing” in the region. The policy was initiated by the Declaration of the U.S. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton in Hanoi ASEAN Regional Forum in 2010.

The U.S. delegation said at the meeting that the concerned parties should settle the South China Sea dispute through peaceful negotiations and avoid the use of force. The U.S. side also affirmed that the South China Sea is related to the issue of navigation freedom and trade in the sea; thus, they called all the parties in the dispute to respect the international law.

Concerning Mekong river area, participants said that Lower Mekong Initiative (LMI) has been considered as a useful one. Many other participants at the meeting said LMI can be expanded to ensure unity within ASEAN and simultaneously narrow the development gap among countries in the region.

At the meeting, the two sides also held frank and open discussions about many other fields such as negotiation for Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), the prospects for Vietnam-US ties and relations among big powers in the region.