The potential for naval cooperation between Vietnam and the U.S. is great and joint activities between the two navies will contribute to fostering the ties of their armed forces, a high-ranking U.S. official has said.

>> Vietnam, US start naval engagement activities, unplanned maritime encounters included Visiting U.S. Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus made the statement during his talks with Chief of the General Staff of the Vietnam People’s Army and Deputy Defense Minister Senior Lieutenant General Do Ba Ty in Hanoi on Wednesday, according to the Vietnam News Agency. Lt. Gen. Ty applauded the top U.S. Navy leader’s visit that was aimed at strengthening the partnership between the two armed forces and navies on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic relations between the two countries. Defense relations between Hanoi and Washington have been growing over the past several years, with strengthened naval cooperation, the Vietnamese official said. He added that the two navies have expanded coordination in various fields, including training, search and rescue, military medicine, and maritime security and safety.

Secretary Mabus told his host that the potential of naval cooperation between the two countries is huge. He also emphasized that the exchange of delegations at all levels and joint activities between the two navies will contribute to fortifying the partnership between Vietnamese and U.S. armed forces. The visit of Secretary Ray took place in the context of the 6th Naval Engagement Activity (NEA) between the navies of Vietnam and the U.S. in Da Nang City in the central region. Two U.S. naval ships, USS Fitzgerald (DDG 62) and littoral combat ship USS Fort Worth (LCS 3), arrived at Da Nang’s Tien Sa Port on Monday for the 5-day NEA.

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