Vietnam PM meets US president at expanded G7 summit

The two leaders agreed on several measures to bolster relations between Vietnam and the U.S., and discussed several international matters of mutual interest. They also agreed to maintain high-level exchanges between the two countries.

Biden said he appreciated the phone conversation he had with Vietnam’s Communist Party Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong in March, during which Trong proposed that the two countries make economic, scientific and technological cooperation the focus of and driving force for their relationship.

On the call, Trong and Biden also agreed to maintain peace, stability and cooperation to ensure freedom of navigation and aviation without the use of threats or force in international relations. They both emphasized the importance of implementing the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea, and the proposed signing of an effective Code of Conduct in the East Sea in accordance with international law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

This Saturday’s meeting was the second between Chinh and Biden in the past year. The two had met at the 40th and 41st ASEAN Summits and related meetings in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, in November last year.

PM Pham Minh Chinh meets with President Joe Biden on the sidelines of the expanded G7 Summit in Hiroshima, Japan, May 20, 2023. Photo by Nguyen Dung

Vietnam and the U.S. normalized relations in 1995 and established a “comprehensive partnership” in 2013.

Their bilateral trade grew 11% to over US$123 billion last year. The U.S. has been Vietnam’s largest export market for years, while Vietnam is its eighth largest trading partner in the world and the largest in Southeast Asia.

American investments in Vietnam are worth a total of $11.4 billion, 11th highest of any country or territory.

Vietnam was one of two countries in Southeast Asia, along with Indonesia, invited to the 49th expanded G7 Summit, part of the G7 Summit held between May 19 and 22.

Chinh also met on Saturday with his counterparts from Canada, the Comoros, Germany, India, the U.K., and leaders of G7 member states as well as several international organizations. He made proposals on trade and investment cooperation in digital transformation, innovations and circular economy.

This was the third time that Vietnam had attended the annual summit, and the second time it has done so at the invitation of Japan.