Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc leaves for official visit to the United States

On the evening of May 28, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and a high-ranking Vietnamese delegation left Hanoi for an official visit to the United States at the invitation of US President Donald Trump.

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has left for an official visit to the United States at the invitation of President Donald Trump. - Photo: VGP

The delegation included Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Pham Binh Minh, Minister of Public Security To Lam, Minister and Chairman of the Government Office Mai Tien Dung, Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Tuan Anh, and Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Xuan Cuong.

The delegation also included Deputy Ministers of Defense, Foreign Affairs, Science and Technology, Vietnamese Ambassador to the United States Pham Quang Vinh, Ambassador, Head of the Vietnamese Delegation to the United Nations Nguyen Phuong Nga, representatives of the Foreign Affairs Committee and the Committee on Culture, Education, Youth, Adolescents and Children of the National Assembly.

Strengthening "bilateral relations"

According to the schedule, from May 29 to 31, the Prime Minister will visit and work in New York and Washington DC.

President Donald Trump will meet with Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc at the White House on May 31.

According to the White House announcement, US President Donald Trump looks forward to discussing with Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc on May 31 measures to strengthen "bilateral relations" and promote "regional cooperation" with one of the US's important partners in Southeast Asia.

The announcement shows that the United States is not only interested in developing bilateral relations but also wants to promote multilateral cooperation with Vietnam.

This is Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc's first official visit to the United States as Prime Minister and the first contact between a senior Vietnamese leader and US President Donald Trump since both countries have new leadership.

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc's official visit to the United States this time aims to continue implementing Vietnam's foreign policy - a foreign policy of independence, self-reliance, multilateralization, diversification, proactive and active international integration; promote the achieved results and further promote the Vietnam - US cooperative relationship.

Positive developments

Vietnam and the United States established diplomatic relations on12-7-1995, exchanged the first Ambassadors in July 1997, opened the US Consulate General in Ho Chi Minh City and the Vietnamese Consulate General in San Francisco in November 1997.

In recent times, the relationship between the two countries has achieved positive developments in all areas since the two countries established a Comprehensive Partnership (July 2013).

The United States has become one of Vietnam's leading trade partners. Two-way trade turnover has grown continuously at 20% per year in recent years.

Although the United States has a trade deficit, its export growth rate to Vietnam has increased rapidly at 77% per year (4 times the growth rate of Vietnam's exports to the United States), with a trade surplus in services.

The United States ranks 8th out of 112 countries and territories investing in foreign direct investment in Vietnam with 815 projects and a total registered capital of 10.07 billion USD.

From March 27 and 28, 2017, the two sides restarted the technical meeting of the Council of the Framework Agreement on Bilateral Trade and Investment.

The two sides strengthen cooperation in the fields of security, defense, science, technology, information technology, biotechnology, oceanography, and space technology.

Regarding cooperation in health, environment, climate change, and humanitarian issues, during President Barack Obama's visit (May 2016), the two sides issued two Joint Statements on the Vietnam-US Partnership in Climate Change and the Vietnam-US Partnership in Combating Wildlife Trafficking.

Accordingly, the US will support Vietnam with 60 million USD in 5 years to respond to climate change and 10 million USD in 5 years to prevent and combat wildlife trafficking.

Cooperation in education, tourism, and people-to-people exchange is developing positively. Currently, Vietnam has more than 31,000 students and interns studying in the United States, ranking first among Southeast Asian countries and sixth among countries with the most international students in the United States.

The two sides actively implemented the Fulbright University project in Vietnam; initially implemented the Peace Program, allowing American volunteers to teach English in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.

The number of US tourists to Vietnam in 2016 reached 552,700, an increase of 12.8% compared to 2015.

According to TTO