US President Donald Trump arrived in Hanoi on the afternoon of November 11, beginning his two-day State visit to Vietnam at the invitation of President Tran Dai Quang. 

US President Donald Trump 

This is the US President’s first visit to Vietnam, which is made in the first year of his working tenure. It demonstrates the importance the US has given to its relations with Vietnam, and is expected to create a foundation to foster the bilateral ties in the coming time.

The visit is taking place at a time when the Vietnam-US comprehensive partnership is progressing, especially after the US visit by Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc in May 2017. The two sides have maintained exchanges of delegations and have actively been implementing agreements reached during the visit.

Vietnam and the US established diplomatic ties on July 12, 1995. 

Positive strides have been recorded in bilateral relations in all spheres since the countries established a comprehensive partnership in July 2013 on the basis of respecting each other’s territorial integrity, political regime and development path, for the sake of their own interests and for regional peace, stability and development cooperation.

Since 2005, the US has become one of the leading trade partners of Vietnam, with two-way trade rising 20 percent in recent years. 

As of November 2016, the US ranked 8th out of 112 foreign investors in Vietnam with 815 projects worth 10.07 billion USD. The US was the ninth largest market of Vietnamese investors with 147 projects totaling 571.38 million USD. 

The number of US tourists to Vietnam reached 552,700 in 2016, a year-on-year rise of 12.8 percent.

APEC 2017: Officials pin hope on President Trump’s Vietnam visit

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh (L) and US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson 

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh and US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson shared their belief that the State visit to Vietnam by President Donald Trump would help enhance the comprehensive partnership between the two countries. 

The officials met in the central city of Da Nang on November 11, within the framework of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Economic Leaders’ Week. 

Rex Tillerson affirmed that the US places importance on the friendship and cooperation with Vietnam, stressing the significance of Donald Trump’s visit to Vietnam, also the President’s first trip to Southeast Asia.

Host and guest said recent visits by leaders of the two countries demonstrate that the bilateral comprehensive partnership holds significance to interests of their people and has contributed to peace, stability, cooperation and development in the region and the world at large.

They also discussed measures to foster the Vietnam-US cooperation in economy-trade, national defence-security and the settlement of post-war consequences. 

The two sides agreed to intensify their coordination in mechanisms led by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and back the handling of disputes in the East Sea by peaceful measures and in accordance with international law, including the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (1982 UNCLOS), thus contributing to maintaining peace, stability, cooperation and development in the region.

VNA