He made the commitment during discussions over telephone Thursday with Deputy Prime Minister Pham Binh Minh on bilateral relations and international and regional issues, according to a statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Minh thanked and deeply appreciated the U.S. for helping other countries access vaccines, saying he hoped Vietnam could soon get the vaccines promised by the U.S.

He called on the country to work closely with Vietnam to foster bilateral economic, trade and investment relations.

Sullivan said the U.S. attaches importance to its "comprehensive partnership" with Vietnam, and hailed the latter’s increasingly important role in the region and world.

He also assured Minh that the U.S. would continue its support so that Vietnam and other countries could soon receive vaccines to fight the pandemic and work closely with Vietnam to strengthen their economic and trade relations.

The U.S. last week announced the destinations of 55 million doses of vaccines, with Vietnam being one of them.

Of the doses, around 41 million will be shared through the global vaccine access mechanism Covax, and Vietnam is among the Asian beneficiaries. The rest are meant for "regional priorities and other recipients," which also include Vietnam.

Huyen Le