US President Joe Biden will visit Vietnam on September 10-11 at the invitation of General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) Nguyen Phu Trong.

Spokeswoman of Vietnam’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs Pham Thu Hang announced the visit today [August 29].

US President Joe Biden. Photo VNA

“We are confident that the senior leaders’ visits will further strengthen ties between the US and Vietnam and pave the way for their steady, substantive, and long-term progress in all spheres, contributing to preserving harmony, stability, cooperation, and development both in Southeast Asia and the world,” Hang said in a statement.

Meanwhile, the White House said while in Hanoi, President Biden will “meet with General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong and other key leaders to discuss ways to deepen cooperation between the United States and Vietnam.”

The leaders will explore opportunities to encourage the development of a Vietnamese economy that is centered on technology and innovation, deepen the intercultural ties through educational exchanges and workforce development initiatives while combating climate change, the White House said, stressing the importance of increasing peace, prosperity, and stability in the region.

Significance time

Joe Biden’s visit to Vietnam coincides with the 10th anniversary of upgrading the US-Vietnam relationship to a comprehensive partnership.

US Ambassador to Vietnam Marc Knapper emphasized the 10-year milestone in his speeches in Vietnam, highlighting the visits to Vietnam by senior US official delegations. He said about one-fourth of the US cabinet had traveled to Vietnam in the previous eight months. The fifth ministerial visit – the most recent was led by US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.

In the press conference on August 17, Spokeswoman Pham Thu Hang said the Vietnam-US relationship has undergone significant growth in recent years in all spheres of bilateral relations and multilateral frameworks. 

She said the two sides are debating steps to deepen the Vietnam-US relationship in a substantive and long-term manner towards a higher-level relationship when the circumstances are right.

Since the two countries normalized their relations in 1995, all US presidents have visited Vietnam. Bill Clinton visited Vietnam in November 2000. Six years later, President George W. Bush came to the country, and in May 2016 did President Barack Obama. 

President Donald Trump came to Vietnam twice, in November 2017 for the APEC Summit in Danang and in February 2019 for the Trump-Kim Summit in Hanoi.

Trade remains the focus of the US-Vietnam relations. During the 27 years of the normalization, two-way trade rose 240-fold to US$123 billion in 2022. The US was Vietnam’s first export market to exceed the milestone of $100 billion.