Celebrating 248 Years of American Independence: A Landmark Event

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, distinguished guests, colleagues, and friends. Welcome and thank you for joining us tonight to celebrate the 248th anniversary of America’s Independence. This event is particularly special for the U.S. Embassy as we also commemorate our first Independence Day celebration as Comprehensive Strategic Partners with Vietnam, our gracious host nation. We are looking forward to an excellent evening.

We are grateful to be joined by so many friends and distinguished guests. In particular, I would like to recognize:

• His Excellency Vũ Hải Hà, Chairman of Foreign Affairs Committee, National Assembly, our Guest of Honor;
• Senior Lieutenant General Phùng Sĩ Tấn, Senior Lieutenant General, Vietnam People’s Army, Ministry of National Defense;
• His Excellency Hà Kim Ngọc, Vice Minister, Ministry of Foreign Affairs;
• Her Excellency Đặng Hoàng Oanh, Vice Minister, Ministry of Justice; and
• His Excellency Trần Nam Hưng, Vice Chairman, Quang Nam Provincial People’s Committee.

Thank you also to our friends from other diplomatic missions, academia, community organizations, and business sectors, who demonstrate the depth and breadth of our work in Vietnam. We appreciate all our generous sponsors who supported this event. Thank you as well to the J.W. Marriott Hotel and its wonderful staff. We are honored to have Grammy-award winning Sangeeta Kaur and the Metropole band with us tonight. Special thanks to my colleagues at the U.S. Embassy for making this celebration a reality.

With our theme “From Sea to Shining Sea,” we are celebrating America’s treasured waterways and the beauty of our beaches, one of my favorite getaway destinations. Like Vietnam, we value our coastlines and are committed to keeping these beaches and surrounding natural areas clean, plastic-free, and enjoyable for years to come.

The past 12 months have been remarkable, including President Biden’s visit to Hanoi, the historic upgrade of our ties to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, and visits to the United States by Vietnam’s Prime Minister, President, and numerous National Assembly members and Cabinet officials.

We are deeply grateful to Vietnam for trusting us as Comprehensive Strategic Partners. Our Partnership is guided by a core belief: the United States supports a strong, independent, prosperous, and resilient Vietnam. This foundation respects each other’s independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity, and political systems.

Our cooperation spans economic development, high-tech trade and investment, workforce training and education, defense cooperation, law enforcement, health, energy, and climate. Together, we promote peace and prosperity in this part of the world.

In this Partnership, we share Vietnam’s high aspirations for a green economy by 2050 and to become a high-income country by 2045. We support Vietnam’s goals to develop high-tech industries and diversify global supply chains. We believe in a free and open Indo-Pacific and a rules-based international order, where countries can chart their own course and resist coercion. These shared national interests bind our futures together. Our success is your success, and your success is our success.

Next year, we look forward to commemorating with Vietnam the 30th anniversary of normalization between our two nations, as well as the 80th anniversary of Vietnam’s own independence. Americans and Vietnamese are united in the belief that “All men are created equal. They are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” As Chu tich Ho Chi Minh said, “there is nothing more precious than independence and freedom.”

So tonight, let us celebrate our independence and freedom. I wish you all a very happy Independence Day and hope you enjoy tonight’s festivities.