Spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Phạm Thu Hằng at the press briefing in Hà Nội on Thursday. — VNA/VNS Photo An Đăng

HÀ NỘI — Vietnamese State President Võ Văn Thưởng and his wife will lead a high-level delegation from Việt Nam to attend the upcoming Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Leaders' Summit in San Francisco, the US, between November 14-17.

The trip is made at the invitation of US President Joe Biden, according to an announcement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at the press briefing on Thursday in Hà Nội.

Spokesperson for the ministry Phạm Thu Hằng said the visit takes place in the context of the 30th anniversary of the first APEC Leaders' meeting in 1993, hosted by then US President Bill Clinton in Seattle, and the 25th anniversary of Việt Nam's APEC membership in 1998.

Under the theme of “Creating a Resilient and Sustainable Future for All”, the summit is focused on three priorities: "Interconnected" – building a resilient and interconnected region that advances broad-based economic prosperity; "Innovative" – working to enable an innovative environment for a sustainable future; "Inclusive" – affirming an equitable and inclusive future for all.

Within the framework of APEC, President Thưởng will participate in the APEC Leaders' meeting, dialogue between APEC leaders and APEC Business Advisory Council, deliver an address at the APEC-CEO Summit, as well as have talks with APEC leaders.

The visit demonstrates the growing Việt Nam-US relationship in recent years, marked by the elevation of relations to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership on the occasion of US President Joe Biden's State visit to Việt Nam at the invitation of General Secretary Nguyễn Phú Trọng in September this year, Hằng noted.

In this visit, the two sides signed various cooperation agreements on economic affairs, science and technology, education and training, including a number of commercial agreements worth over US$7 billion.

According to the spokesperson, President Thưởng's visit to the US aims to implement the cooperation agreements concluded by the high-level leaders of both countries during President Biden's Việt Nam visit.

It also seeks to promote US support for Việt Nam in education and training, science and technology, and innovation, enhance cooperation between the two countries, localities, and foster people-to-people exchange.

Currency manipulation

The spokesperson also addressed questions related to Việt Nam's reaction to the latest report from the US regarding whether it is committing currency manipulation activities.

Hằng said in the report published on November 7 by the US Department of the Treasury on economic and foreign exchange policies of major trading partners of the US, six economies – China, Germany, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan (China), and Việt Nam – were included in the monitoring list for foreign currency manipulation.

However, the report noted that no major trading partners appeared to be manipulating their currencies.

Việt Nam has not been manipulating the currency and has also received very positive assessments in the report with regards to the implementation of monetary policies, the spokesperson stressed.

"In the spirit of the joint statement on elevating the Việt Nam-US relations to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership for Peace, Cooperation, and Development, Việt Nam will continue to maintain close cooperation and exchanges with the US to share information and gain better mutual understanding to resolve any existing issues in the relations between the two countries, particularly in economic and trade relations, in order to further develop the financial economy regulations in a stable, sustainable way that meets the interests and demands of both sides," Hằng said. — VNS