The trip is made at the invitation of Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Pham Binh Minh, as the two countries this year celebrate the 25th anniversary of the normalisation of bilateral ties (July 11, 1995 – July 11, 2020).
Pompeo will be the third foreign minister to visit Vietnam this year, following the trip by British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab and South Korean foreign minister Kang Kyung-wha last month, rare exceptions to the country's strict border restrictions in place to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
The US is currently Vietnam’s fourth-largest trade partner, with bilateral trade increasing 170-fold since 1995 to an estimated figure of US$80 billion for 2020.
With US Defence Secretary Mark Esper in his entourage, the US diplomat is on a five-day Asia tour to reinforce ties with its Asian partners in push for free, open and rules-based Indo-Pacific, starting with a trip to India on Monday.
