PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc holds phone talks with US President Donald Trump

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc during phone talks with US President Donald Trump (Photo: VNA)

The US President highly valued Vietnam's COVID-19 response and thanked Vietnam for its supply and transportation of medical equipment as well as presenting face masks to the US.

He suggested the two countries continue working closely together in the COVID-19 fight, expressed his regret about the postponement of the special ASEAN-US summit due to the COVID-19, and hoped the bilateral relations will be further enhanced in the coming time.

For his part, PM Phuc updated President Trump on Vietnam's COVID-19 fight and expressed his sympathies over the losses and difficulties that the US people are facing due to the disease.

However, he said he believes that under the leadership of President Trump, the US will soon curb the disease and restart the economy.

The PM spoke highly of the bilateral cooperation in coping with the COVID-19, and thanked the US President for his goodwill to present ventilators to Vietnam as well as to provide financial support for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), including nearly US$10 million for Vietnam to improve medical capacity and rehabilitate the economy.

The leaders expressed their satisfaction at the practical progress in the two countries’ relations in all fields over the past time.

They said they are glad to see that two-way trade continued to increase in the first quarter of 2020, of which the US exports to Vietnam rose by 17 percent over the same period last year.

The two sides agreed to further step up bilateral economic-trade relations, while continuously opening markets for their goods in the time to come.

They also exchanged ideas on measures to deepen the bilateral comprehensive partnership, especially on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of diplomatic ties.

President Trump affirmed that the US attaches importance to the comprehensive partnership with Vietnam, and said that the Vietnam-US ties have strongly developed over the past 25 years.

He said he believes in the ties’ further development in the coming time, while expressing his hope to see PM Phuc again.

Earlier, on March 26 and April 28, the two leaders sent letters on COVID-19 to each other.

Also on May 6, at the request of the US side, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh held phone talks with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, during which they agreed that the Vietnam-US relations continue maintaining the positive development on various aspects, especially economy-trade.

They also agreed to closely coordinate to organise and implement cooperation activities on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the bilateral diplomatic ties in 2020, thereby further deepening the Vietnam-US comprehensive partnership.

Pompeo spoke highly of Vietnam’s role in responding to common challenges, and agreed to increase coordination to promote the ties between ASEAN and the US during the time when Vietnam serves as the ASEAN 2020 Chair and a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council. Both sides also discussed international and regional issues of common concern.