Office of Government Hall
Hanoi, Vietnam
February 27, 2019
12:11 P.M. ICT
PRIME MINISTER PHÚC: (As interpreted.) Mr. President, on behalf of the government, we greatly appreciate the process of denuclearization and peace building in North Korea that Mr. President was so resolute in these efforts. And thank you very much for choosing Vietnam as the venue for the second summit.
We’ve been working very closely with the United States and the DPKR to promote this meeting to be a successful one, from our own capacity. And congratulations on the very strong leadership in terms of the economic performance, (inaudible).
And this is a great achievement in terms of the economy. The United States is the superpower. And as the U.S. economy grows, others will grow too, including Vietnam. Congratulations on your economic performance, Mr. President.
And I also welcome the results of the talks between our (inaudible) General and President Nguyễn Phú Trọng and Mr. President. And the main message is that we will continue to promote bilateral cooperation, especially in trade.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Thank you very much, Mr. Prime Minister. The trip has been beautiful. We have a very big meeting planned tonight, as you know, with North Korea and Chairman Kim. And I think it may very well turn out to be very successful. It helps that it’s in Vietnam because you’ve shown something that the world is really getting to see the incredible job that you’ve done in Vietnam in a very short period of time.
Coming in from the airport, seeing everything that’s been happening and been built, even since last year when we were spending time together — my second trip. You’ve made tremendous progress and it’s a great thing for the world to see. And now the world is actually watching and they’re looking at Vietnam.
So I look forward to the meeting tonight with Chairman Kim, and hopefully it’s going to be successful. We’ll see what happens. But he wants to do something great also, and I think he wants to do something that would be on a par. If you look at what you’ve done in a short time, he can do it in a very, very rapid time and make North Korea into a great economic power.
But I really appreciate the orders that you made today of Boeing and General Electric, and the various other companies that will be selling you aircraft.
I also appreciate the fact that you’re looking at much of our military equipment. We make the best military equipment in the world, by far. Whether it’s jet fighters or missiles or rockets, or anything you want to name, we make — we’re acknowledged to have made — we make the best. So I appreciate you looking at that very strongly, and I know that’s a decision you’ll make.
And we appreciate very much that you’re reducing the trade deficit with the United States, which was very substantial before I got here. And now we’re bringing it down with great orders like the orders that you made today. And we very much appreciate it.
It’s an honor to be with you a second time. And we’re now friends. I love that you showed me the autograph. That was very nice. And that’s the way I feel. And congratulations on the tremendous work that you’ve done over a short period of time. It’s so obvious to anybody that looks. Congratulations to all of Vietnam. Thank you.
PRIME MINISTER PHÚC: (As interpreted.) Thank you very much for your very kind words about Vietnam’s success in the past years.
