WASHINGTON: The head of Vietnam’s Communist Party will make a first-ever visit to the White House next week, meeting President Barack Obama on the 40th anniversary of the end of the war between the two nations.

Nguyen Phu Trong will become the first General Secretary of the Vietnamese Communist Party to visit the United States and the White House, diplomats and officials said.

Obama and Trong will hold talks Tuesday and discuss ways to improve ties that were normalised 20 years ago between the former foes, the White House said on Friday.

Trong — who heads the ruling party but has no formal government position — will be hosted in the Oval Office, an administration official said.

That is an uncommon honor for someone who is not the head of state or government.

“The president also welcomes the opportunity to discuss other issues, including the Trans-Pacific Partnership, human rights, and bilateral defense cooperation,” the White House said in a statement.

The TPP is a major Pacific regional trade accord being negotiated among 12 countries that do not include China. It is, in fact, meant to offset the growing economic might of China.

It has been 40 years since Viet Cong fighters and the North Vietnamese army won control of South Vietnam, humiliating the world’s pre-eminent superpower and ending a war that defined both nations.

Trong heads the ruling party but has no formal government position.

“He is the senior person in the Vietnamese leadership, and there was broad agreement that it made sense to treat the visit as a visit from the top leader of the country,” a senior State Department official said.

“It’s not a typical meeting for the president, certainly.” Josh Kurlantzick of the Council on Foreign Relations called the visit “significant”.

Published in Dawn July 4th, 2015

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