On Thursday, the US naval ship USNS Fall River (T-EPF-4), with 300 officers and sailors on board, left Da Nang’s Tien Sa Port for Khanh Hoa Province, ending the 10-day 2017 Pacific Partnership programme (PP17) in Da Nang.

USNS Fall River officers say goodbye to Da Nang leaders

Addressing the farewell ceremony, US Navy Captain cum Pacific Partnership Mission Commander Stanfield Chien remarked “Our 10-day stay in Da Nang has given us a valuable opportunity to continue boosting cooperative relations with the city authorities and to increase mutual exchange with local residents.  The city’s authorities and people have helped the PP17 to carry out humanitarian assistance and disaster relief activities in the city, including providing medical examinations for locals, upgrading the Hoa Lien Kindergarten and the Hoa Hai medical station, and exchanging professional skills with local military medical staff”.

One highlight of this year’s programme was the oil spill response practice on a section of the city’s Han River, which was co-organised by the city authorities and their PP17 partners.  In addition, crew members from the T-EPF-4 visited the Tuong Lai (Future) Special School and gave gifts to its pupils.

A memorable photo taken at the port

The US Ambassador to Viet Nam, Ted Osius, said that the visit of the US naval ship aimed to mark the 22^nd anniversary of the normalisation of diplomatic relations between the USA and Viet Nam (1995 - 2017), and to deepen the bilateral cooperative relationship between the two countries.

USNS Fall River officers board their ship