United States President Joe Biden would be visiting Vietnam on September 10-11 at the invitation of Vietnamese Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, said the spokesperson for the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Pham Thu Hang was quoted by the local media as saying that high-level visits would help deepen ties between the two countries and thus contribute to maintaining peace, stability, cooperation and development in the region and the world.

The forthcoming visit by President Biden would boost multifaceted relations between the two countries on a stable, substantial and long-term basis, she said.

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement posted on the White House website: “President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. will travel to Hanoi, Vietnam on September 10, 2023.

“While in Hanoi, President Biden will meet with General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong and other key leaders to discuss ways to further deepen cooperation between the United States and Vietnam. The leaders will explore opportunities to promote the growth of a technology-focused and innovation-driven Vietnamese economy, expand our people-to-people ties through education exchanges and workforce development programs, combat climate change, and increase peace, prosperity, and stability in the region.”

Biden would be the second President of the United States of America to visit Vietnam in the first term since 1995, when the two countries normalized relations.

In November 2000, President Bill Clinton became the first U.S. President to come to Vietnam after the normalization of bilateral ties. Since then, all the next Presidents have visited Vietnam, with George W. Bush in November 2006, Barack Obama in May 2016 and Donald Trump in November 2017 and February 2019.

The U.S. is now one of Vietnam’s biggest trade partners. Last year, it became the first country to which Vietnam’s exports surpassed the US$100-billion mark. Data showed Vietnam exported US$109 billion worth of goods to the U.S. in 2022.

Two-way trade between Vietnam and the U.S. has snowballed more than 240 times since bilateral ties were normalized in 1995, from a meager US$451 million in 1995 to more than US$123 billion in 2022.

Source: Saigon Times