President Nguyen Xuan Phuc (Photo: NDO/Tran Hai).

In the letter, the Vietnamese leader welcomed and thanked the US for its commitment to donate US$4 billion to the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access (COVAX) initiative, noting that Vietnam has received two batches with about 2.5 million doses of vaccine from this mechanism.

COVAX is really a precious and timely assistance that has helped Vietnam and many other developing countries in responding to the pandemic when vaccine supply sources have still been limited, he wrote.

President Phuc also applauded the US’s commitment to contribute an additional 80 million COVID-19 vaccine doses to the joint efforts of the international community amid complicated developments of the pandemic in Vietnam and Southeast Asia.

He expressed his hope that the US will continue to support Vietnam and other countries in COVID-19 vaccine supplies, while suggesting that the two sides strengthen cooperation in COVID-19 vaccine research, production and technology transfer.

President Phuc affirmed that Vietnam always attaches great importance to the comprehensive partnership with the US, and believed that based on the spirit of friendly cooperation, both sides will continue to promote bilateral relations in a more intensive and practical manner, thus benefiting people of both nations and contributing to the maintenance of peace, stability, cooperation and development in the region and the world.

Earlier, in recent phone talks with leaders of other countries such as China, Russia and Japan, leaders of the Vietnamese Party, State and Government also asked for the countries’ assistance in accessing vaccine supplies and cooperation in researching and transferring COVID-19 vaccine production technology.