Renowned foreign correspondents Peter Arnett, George Lewis and Nick Ut, back in Vietnam, where they reported the American war 40 years ago, were upbeat about Vietnam-US relations.
George Lewis worked as a reporter of the US television network NBC in Vietnam from 1969 to 1972
They were among correspondents who gathered in HCM City around Reunification Day. Others included Edie Lederer and Bill Reilly.
Lewis, who reported on the war from 1969 to 1972 for the US television network NBC, said some 17,000 students from Vietnam were now studying in the US and bilateral trade had grown to be worth USD33bn in 2014, expected to rise to USD50bn in 2020.
Arnett, who reported on Vietnam for 13 years until end of the war in 1975, said he had returned to the country 15 times since then and was surprised each time by the positive changes he had witnessed, particularly since 2000.
Lewis said he had returned six times since the end of the war and was encouraged by the nation's development.
During the visit, the journalists paid tribute to the late General Vo Nguyen Giap, met students at the Vietnam Academy of Journalism and discussed war reporting with Vietnamese colleagues, who covered the story from the side of the liberators.