VietNamNet Bridge – Vietnam President Truong Tan Sang will pay a visit to the U.S. next week to discuss with President Barack Obama about the new direction of bilateral relations.

At the invitation of Mr. Obama, President Truong Tan Sang will visit the U.S. from July 24 to 26. "The visit confirms Vietnam’s consistent foreign policy of independence, self-reliance, peace, cooperation and development, as well as multilateralisation and diversification of international relations and international integration," Foreign Ministry spokesman Luong Thanh Nghi said on July 18.

President Truong Tan Sang will hold talks with President Obama and exchange ideas about new directions in the relationship between the two countries, especially in the fields of economics, trade, investment, science and technology, education-training and humanitarian issues. The two sides will also discuss international and regional issues.

During the visit, President Sang will meet with representatives of the US administration, US Congress, US scholars and businessmen as well as the Vietnamese community in the U.S.

Earlier, AP cited the White House as saying that Mr. Sang and Mr. Obama will meet on July 25. The two leaders will discuss regional cooperation, trade cooperation with Asian countries.

This is the second visit of the President of Vietnam to the US. In June 2007, President Nguyen Minh Triet made a historic visit, which lasted nearly a week to the US.

Vietnam-US ties have developed positively in various areas since the two countries normalized relations in 1995.

Both sides agreed to build a partnership based on a positive, growing friendship and mutual respect, and a shared commitment to pursuing constructive and multifaceted cooperation.

According to the American Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam (AmCham), Vietnam-US bilateral trade can reach more than $27 billion this year and more than $33 billion in 2015.

Tran Cham