Washington (VNA) - Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh met with staff members of the Vietnamese Embassy in Washington D.C and representatives from the Vietnamese community in the East Coast of the US on May 14 (local time).
The PM hailed the efforts by the embassy in implementing the external policies of the Party and State, building and promoting the image of the nation and people of Vietnam to US friends, and contributing to making the Vietnam-US ties more practical and effective, including the thorough preparations for the PM’s trip to the US to attend the ASEAN-US Special Summit and make a visit to the US and the UN.
He asked the embassy to promptly implement agreements reached between the two countries during this visit.
Meeting representatives from the Vietnamese community in the East Coast of the US, the Government leader thanked the community for their contributions to the homeland as well as to the relationship between Vietnam and the US.
He reiterated that the Party and State always consider the Vietnamese community abroad as an indispensable part of the community of ethnic groups in Vietnam, and always do their best to support overseas Vietnamese to settle down in the host countries and make positive contributions to the national construction and defence at home.
The PM highlighted the role of the Vietnamese community in the US in connecting the two countries and implementing agreements reached between the two countries, which has contributed to the development of both Vietnam and the US.
He took note of ideas and opinions of the community and thanked them for proposals they made at the meeting. He affirmed that relevant Vietnamese ministries and agencies will carefully consider the proposals.
The leader asked the Vietnamese Embassy in the US to keep up their good performance in overseas Vietnamese affairs; and requestg the US to recognise the Vietnamese community as an ethnic minority of the country.
On the occasion, the PM attended a ceremony to put the nameplate on the new headquarters of the Vietnamese Embassy in Washington D.C.
The same day, he laid flowers at the Memorial of President Thomas Jefferson - the third President of the US, who was the author of the Declaration of Independence of the US that was announced on April 7, 1776./.