Visiting U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld Monday met with Vietnamese leaders, seeking ways to beef up the two countries' military relations.

During the talks between Rumsfeld and his Vietnamese counterpart Pham Van Tra here on Monday, the two sides agreed to expand the military ties from focusing mainly on dealing with the war's aftermath to new domain of exchanging military delegations and cooperating in personnel training in the coming time.

The two sides will strengthen the exchanges of military delegations at different levels, and the cooperation on personnel training under the United States' International Military Education and Training program. According the program, Vietnamese pilot will go to the foreign country for English language training, Rumsfeld said before arriving in Hanoi.

In addition, they will enhance cooperation in army medical field, bomb and mine clearance, detoxification of chemical poisons left from the Vietnam War in some localities and provision about U. S soldiers missing in action (MIA).

While meeting with Vietnamese Prime Minister Phan Van Khai on the same day, Rumsfeld appreciated Vietnam's cooperation with the United States on MIA issues. There are over 1,800 U.S. servicemen still unaccounted throughout Southeast Asia from the war ended in 1975, according to statistics of the U.S. Defense Department.

Rumsfeld, the second U.S. defense secretary visiting Vietnam since the war end, said Vietnam is an important country in the region and the United States highly appreciates the relations with it. He also said that one more U.S. navy ship will visit the country this summer, becoming the fourth since late 2003. This indicates gradual improvement in military cooperation between the two countries.

The United States wants to enhance its military relations with Vietnam, but has no plans to rent Vietnam's military facilities, the U.S defense secretary said.

Following the visit to the United States by Tra in 2003, Rumfeld's three-day trip to Vietnam starting on Sunday is considered a broader effort to beef up the two countries' military cooperation, which Khai hoped to contribute to the peace and stability in the region and the world.

Together with the military ties, the cooperation in economy, trade, investment, technology, science, education and culture between Vietnam and the United States has been stronger since 1995 when the two countries normalized diplomatic relations.

Following the trips to the United States by Khai in 2005, U.S. President George W. Bush is expected to visit Vietnam when he attends the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit slated for November in Hanoi. The visit, the second one to the Southeast Asian nation by a U.S. president, following the trip by Bill Clinton in 2000, is believed to open a new page for the bilateral relations.

Last week, Vietnam and the United States officially inked a bilateral deal on the former's accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Ho Chi Minh City, paving the way for the country to join the global trading club late this year.

More and more U.S. enterprises are interested in making investment in Vietnam. Late April, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates visited Hanoi, putting hope for the country's information technology industry on enhancing cooperation with the world's biggest software maker. Two months earlier, Intel, the world's chip biggest producer, announced it will invest 300 million U.S. dollars to construct a semiconductor assembly and test facility in Ho Chi Minh City, the first of its kind in Vietnam.

Vietnam is the second leg of Donald Rumsfeld's several-Asian- nation tour, which includes Singapore and Indonesia.

Source: Xinhua