Local media highlights President Sang's US visit

Commerce and trade are vital to the Vietnam-U.S. bilateral relations, as they are the foundation and impetus to their development, local media reported on Thursday, quoting President Truong Tan Sang as saying. According to Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper, Sang made the statement at his meeting with U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker and Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack in Washington D. C on Wednesday, the first working day of his 3-day visit to the United States. The future Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) must take into account the differences in the development levels of member countries, the Vietnamese leader emphasized. Sang also asked the United States to remove any barriers preventing Vietnamese goods from entering the country, reported the newspaper. Cases of price dumping had negatively affected millions of Vietnamese farmers and the country's efforts in poverty reduction. The United States should soon recognize Vietnam's market economy status, state-run Vietnam News reported, quoting Sang's proposal at the meeting. The newspaper also quoted Vietnamese Ambassador to the United States Nguyen Quoc Cuong who said ahead of the President's departure that a new framework on the Vietnam-U.S. partnership is expected to reach during the President's U.S. visit. "Nearly one decade has passed since the two nations established the current framework of constructive, friendly partnership and multi-faceted cooperation on the basis of equality, mutual respect and benefit," said the ambassador. President Sang's trip is the second official visit made by a Vietnamese head of state in nearly two decades since the normalization of ties with the United States, and the first exchange of high-level delegation in five years, Vietnam News reported, adding that the visit comes at a time when the two nations are diversifying their relations in the drive for development. Sang's visit is made on July 24-26 at the invitation of President Barack Obama. Since 2005, the United States has become Vietnam's largest export market. Two-way trade turnover has increased continually in recent years. As of May this year, it reached over 11 billion U.S. dollars, an increase of 16 percent year on year, reported Tuoi Tre newspaper.