NEW YORK, Sept 25 — United States (US) President Joe Biden will hold talks with Vietnam's president and ruling Communist Party chief Tô Lâm on Wednesday as the US leader closes out his final appearance at a United Nations (UN) General Assembly in New York.
The meeting, on the sidelines of the annual gathering of world leaders, is part of Biden's push to deepen relations with the strategic Southeast Asian country and manufacturing hub and counter China and Russia, with which Vietnam also retains ties.
With four months left to his presidency, Biden in his valedictory UN speech on Tuesday urged support for Ukraine in its battle against Russia and called for a diplomatic solution to a rise in Middle East hostilities.
Tô Lâm, making his first visit to the US as president, met in New York on Monday with representatives of US companies operating in Vietnam, including Amazon, Procter & Gamble, and Visa.
He asked business leaders to back Hanoi's bid to have Washington remove it from the list of non-market economies and lift other trade restrictions and for the US and Vietnam to cooperate on semiconductor supply chains.
US-Asean Business Council president and former US ambassador to Hanoi Ted Osius told Reuters that Tô Lâm had long engaged with US officials.
"This (Tô Lâm) is a guy who has seen the opportunities of the US relationship for a long time," he said.
Biden visited Vietnam a year ago and secured deals on semiconductors and minerals and an upgrade in diplomatic ties between the countries.
— Reuters
