HANOI (AFP) — US Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez will travel to Vietnam next week on a visit aimed at strengthening already flourishing trade ties between the two former enemies.
Gutierrez will meet Vietnam's Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and President Nguyen Minh Triet Monday, accompanied by representatives from 23 US companies including Ford, Dow Chemical, Northwest Airlines and aluminium giant Alcoa.
"Vietnam is a growing economy with excellent opportunities for our American manufacturers, businesses and workers," said Gutierrez in a statement.
He said the company executives travelling with him would "make vital contacts and acquire information to allow them to prosper in the Vietnamese market, increasing exports and creating higher-paying jobs for our workers at home."
The statement said the visit was aimed at expanding the market share of US companies doing business here, and strengthening economic relations between the two countries following Vietnam's accession to the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
Ties between Hanoi and Washington have increased steadily since the end of the American trade embargo on Vietnam in 1994.
Two US presidents, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, have visited Vietnam since the two countries normalised diplomatic relations in 1995, while President Nguyen visited the US earlier this year.
Trade links between the nations have also developed in recent years, and Vietnam's continuing economic growth and WTO accession are likely to reinforce them.
US figures show trade between the two countries grew from 1.5 billion to 9.7 billion dollars between 2001 and 2006.
At the end of September, US direct investment in the country stood at 2.6 billion dollars, making it the seventh-biggest foreign investor in Vietnam.
And in the first nine months of this year alone, 41 new American projects with a total value of 215 million dollars were registered.
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