US to enhance navy cooperation with Vietnam
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E-mail Xinhua, November 12, 2017
U.S. President Donald Trump will discuss enhancing bilateral maritime and naval cooperation with Vietnamese leaders in his upcoming state visit to the Southeast Asian nation, a senior U.S. administration official said Saturday in a background press call.
The official told media via teleconference that the two nations are going to conclude a new three-year plan of action for defense cooperation involving an increase in bilateral naval activities
He said Washington is formally transferring the first U.S. Coast Guard cutter to the Vietnamese navy to help enhance Vietnam's maritime security and awareness.
Trump, who attended the APEC summit in Da Nang, Vietnam on Friday-Saturday, will also secure "the new commitments from Vietnam's leadership to support the maximum pressure campaign" to bring Pyongyang "back to the path of denuclearization," he said.
The official, who declined to be named, added that the two countries will also pledge to intensify discussions toward expanding bilateral trade and investment, adding the two nations are likely to reach commercial agreements worth 12 billion U.S. dollars.
On Sunday, Trump will fly on to Manila to meet with Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte and other leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and of the East Asia Summit (EAS).
A number of things will "come out of the two summits, as well, in the way of cooperation and initiatives between the United States and ASEAN and some of the individual member states," said the official.
He said Trump and Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong will co-sponsor an EAS Leaders statement on chemical weapons to reaffirm the region's commitment against the development of those weapons by Pyongyang and beyond.
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