By Andrea Shalal
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States and Vietnam on Thursday said they had agreed to hold regular, senior staff-level talks on macroeconomic policies and efforts to maintain financial stability, and would also explore a possible technical assistance partnership.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and State Bank of Vietnam Governor Nguyen Thi Hong announced the agreements in a joint statement as Yellen wrapped up her visit to Hanoi, underscoring their desire to strengthen U.S.-Vietnamese ties.
"The United States and Vietnam are trusted partners with a friendship grounded in mutual respect and the shared goal of promoting strong, resilient, secure, and inclusive growth," they said. "We look forward to strengthening this partnership further in coming years.”
The two leaders said they saw "a significant opportunity" to strengthen cooperation between the two countries with a goal of achieving strong, inclusive, and sustainable growth through well-designed macroeconomic policies.
They agreed to deepen their engagement by holding a regular, senior-level dialogue on macroeconomic and financial policies, sharing knowledge on stable and efficient financial markets, and supporting their mutual objectives of robust, resilient, secure, and inclusive economic growth and financial stability.
They also noted in the statement that Treasury appreciated efforts by Vietnam's central bank to further modernize and enhance the transparency of its monetary policy and exchange rate management framework, to promote macroeconomic stability, and to ensure the safety and soundness of the banking system.
Treasury in November removed Vietnam from its monitoring list for possible currency manipulation, adding that it was satisfied with Hanoi's progress in addressing concerns about its currency practices.