The Vietnamese Foreign Affairs Ministry announced that Prime Minister Phan Van Khai will visit the United States on May 19-25 at the invitation of US President George W. Bush, local newspaper People reported Saturday.

"This is the first official visit to the United States by Prime Minister Phan Van Khai. The visit is aimed at strengthening Vietnam-US relationship, meeting the common interests of the two peoples for the sake of peace, stability and development in the region and over the world," the announcement said.

US Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick said in Hanoi early this month Khai will meet Bush on June 21, and other leaders of the US government, congress and business community during his stay in the United States.

Khai and the US officials are expected to discuss bilateral, regional and global issues, including Vietnam's bid to join the World Trade Organization, business and investment environment, US- Vietnam join efforts in combating HIV/AIDS and bird flu, US soldiers reported missing in action in the Vietnam War, US naval ship visits to Vietnam, and security cooperation on counter- terrorism, narcotics and organized crimes, Zoellick said.

Since the normalization of diplomatic relations between Vietnam and the United States in 1995, the two countries have seen important improvements in cooperative ties.

The coming into force of the Bilateral Trade Agreement in 2001 opened up many opportunities for businesses of Vietnam and the United States. Two-way trade increased to 6.4 billion US dollars in 2004 from nearly 5.9 billion dollars in 2003 and nearly 1.4 billion dollars in 2001.

Military ties between the two countries have also gradually improved. In reciprocating the visit to Vietnam by US Secretary of Defense William Cohen in early 2000, Vietnamese Defense Minister Pham Van Tra led a high-level military delegation to visit the United States in late 2003. Several ships of the US Navy have visited Vietnam's southern Ho Chi Minh City and central Da Nang city.

"The Vietnam War ended 30 years ago. And, it is high time to open up a new page for the relations between Vietnam and the United States," Vietnam's Foreign Ministry spokesman Le Dung said recently, noting that the country's viewpoint is not to forget the past, but to close the past and look forward to the future.

Source: Xinhua