(VOVworld) - An ongoing visit to the US by Vietnamese Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong could be a turning point in the 20-year diplomatic relations between the two countries.

Vietnam expat communities in the US welcome Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong. Photo: VNA

Gregory Poling from the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) told a Vietnam New Agency correspondent in Washington D.C that bilateral relations have progressed substantially, reflected in Vietnam’s joining of the World Trade Organisation, a boom in bilateral trade and investment activities, the establishment of a comprehensive partnership and the US partly lifting its arms embargo on Vietnam.

Poling expressed his hope that the conclusion of Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations could be the most prominent milestone in the Vietnam-US ties this year.