United States Secretary of State John Kerry has expressed his belief in the vision and ambitions of Ho Chi Minh City development during a talk with the city’s Party chief.

The U.S. official joined Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee Dinh La Thang for a meeting at 7:45 pm on Tuesday at the Bitexco Financial Tower in District 1, discussing the Vietnam-U.S. relationship and the development of the southern metropolis.

The two greeted each other with warm embraces and smiles on their faces before sitting down for a friendly conversation without any advanced schedule or specific topic.

They started off recalling memories and stories that represented the tight relationship between the two nations.

According to Secretary Kerry, sitting on the 48^th floor of the building reminded him of 20 years ago, when he was enjoying a cup of coffee at one of the high spots in the southern metropolis and thinking about the bright future for ties between the U.S. and Vietnam.

The visit of President Barack Obama has proved that such a future is happening, as evidenced by the hearty welcome of tens of thousands of Vietnamese citizens and by the people in Ho Chi Minh City in particular, the U.S. official stated.

Vietnam probably had the largest number of people to welcome the U.S. president on the streets, Kerry added.

He assessed that Ho Chi Minh City had been developing at a fast pace in recent years, before expressing his belief in the vision and ambitions the southern metropolis is striving for.

Secretary Thang replied by extending his gratitude for all the efforts that the U.S. Secretary of State has made in cementing cooperation between the two nations over the past 20 years.

The Ho Chi Minh City Party chief praised the Fulbright University project in Vietnam, considering the facility a great place to nurture Vietnam’s human resource, which he hoped would contribute to national development as well as the Vietnam-U.S. relationship.

The institution is expected to be a university of the Vietnamese people, for the Vietnamese people, and home to an excellent Vietnamese labor force.

The two officials later came to the helipad situated on top of the Bitexco Financial Tower to enjoy an entire view of Ho Chi Minh City.