Vietnam foreign minister starts US visit
HANOI - Vietnam's foreign minister was set to start an official six-day trip to the United States Sunday, paving the way for visits by the communist country's president and prime minister later this year.
Pham Gia Khiem, who is also a deputy prime minister, was scheduled to meet U.S. Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice and several members of Congress during his trip, said foreign ministry spokesman Le Dung.
President Nguyen Minh Triet is expected to become Vietnam's first post-war head of state to visit the United States at an unspecified date this summer, and Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung plans to travel there in the autumn.
The former enemy nations have moved to restore ties since their war ended with the fall of Saigon in 1975. Washington lifted a trade embargo in 1994, and bilateral trade is expected to gross 12 billion dollars this year.
US
President George W. Bush visited Vietnam, now Southeast Asia's fastest growing economy, in November for bilateral talks and to attend an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (
APEC) summit in Hanoi.
Khiem, who is joined by top officials from the ministries of transport, science and technology, telecommunications and education, will also meet US business leaders and visit financial institutions and a university.
Agence France Presse - March 11, 2007.
|