Vietnam's General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) Central Committee Nguyen Phu Trong (R) meets with U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis in Hanoi, capital of Vietnam, Jan. 25, 2018. (Xinhua/VNA)
HANOI, Jan. 25 (Xinhua) -- Vietnamese Defense Minister Ngo Xuan Lich met with visiting U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis here on Thursday, with the two discussing a variety of issues related to defense cooperation.
During the talks, the two defense ministers agreed on measures and orientations to promote cooperative ties in the future, based on a memorandum of understanding on defense cooperation signed in 2011, a joint vision statement on defense ties signed in 2015, an action plan for 2018-2020, and agreements reached by their superiors.
They agreed that the bilateral defense cooperation has been producing practical outcomes in line with the Vietnam-U.S. comprehensive partnership, particularly in searching for missing U.S. servicemen, dioxin decontamination, bomb and mine clearance, rescue and humanitarian aid, and United States peacekeeping operation.
The Vietnamese Defense Ministry applauded the U.S. cooperation in a project on dioxin remediation at Bien Hoa Airport in southern Dong Nai province as well as its support for Vietnam's participation in United Nations peacekeeping operations.
