U.S. hopes for second Vietnam aircraft carrier visit this year - official

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States hopes to reach agreement with Vietnam on another aircraft carrier visit to the country this year and for such port stops to become a regular feature of the increasingly close relationship between the former Vietnam War enemies, a senior U.S. defence official said on Wednesday.

The USS Carl Vinson stopped in Vietnam in March last year in the first such visit since the end of the Vietnam War in 1975, underscoring the growing strategic ties between the former foes at a time when China's regional influence is rising.

"We had our first aircraft carrier visit to Vietnam since the end of the Vietnam War and we very much hope we can reach agreement with our colleagues in Vietnam for a second aircraft carrier visit this year," Randall Schriver, the assistant secretary of defence for the Indo-Pacific region, told a Washington think tank.

"We are discussing it with Vietnam right now. Our hope it that this can be a regular feature of the relationship. It would be a sign of a mature and a strategic relationship. We will work those details out with our partners in Vietnam," Schriver told the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Schriver also said he hoped the United States would be able to make a second coast guard cutter available to Vietnam to help with maritime security work.

(Reporting by Idrees Ali and David Brunnstrom; Editing by Steve Orlofsky)