HÀ NỘI – US President Barack Obama today departed for a week-long tour of Asia as part of his efforts to boost economic and security cooperation with the region. The President is expected to arrive in Việt Nam late tonight for an official visit from May 23-25.

Obama is the third consecutive US President to visit Việt Nam, following Bill Clinton in 2000 and George W.Bush in 2006. 

The leader will spend three days in Việt Nam, with stops in Hà Nội and Hồ Chí Minh City. 

In Hà Nội, the President will deliver a speech on the bilateral relations. During meetings and events in Hà Nội and HCM City, he will discuss the importance of approving the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement this year. 

He will also meet with members of civil society and representatives of the Young Southeast Asian Leadership Initiative and the business community. 

According to the White House, during his first trip to the Southeast Asian nation, President Obama will hold official meetings with Vietnamese leaders to discuss ways for the Vietnam-US Comprehensive Partnership to advance cooperation across a wide range of areas, including economy, people-to-people, security, human rights, and global and regional issues. 

He and Vietnamese leaders will assess attainments of the bilateral relationship, which experienced a 20-year war, 30 years of economic and military embargoes and 20 years of normalisation before being elevated to a comprehensive partnership in 2013. 
In recent years, the two countries have faced an urgent need to have stronger steps to lift their partnership to a new level. Therefore, during the trip, the two sides are expected to compare notes on a large number of issues. 

Việt Nam and the US see huge potential for cooperation in numerous fields, ranging from politics, national defence, maritime security and safety to education-training, people-to-people exchange, the settlement of humanitarian issues and post-war consequences, climate change response, environmental protection and coping with other global challenges. 
Outcomes to be reached during the visit will lay a foundation and create a momentum for the two countries’ ties, helping them overcome remaining challenges and obstacles in the spirit of putting aside the past, surmounting difficulties, promoting similarities and heading towards the future. 
With their resolve and enhanced mutual political trust, the two countries will advance their comprehensive partnership to a new level, serving the interests of their people and contributing to peace, stability and development cooperation in the region and the world at large.

From Việt Nam, he will head to Japan for a summit of the Group of Seven industrialised nations (G7) in Ise-Shima and a historic visit to Hiroshima city. — VNS