US President greets Vietnamese leader

(7 Jul 2015) US President Barack Obama said Tuesday that despite differences between the United States and Vietnam over "political philosophy," the two countries were deepening cooperation on health, climate and other issues. Obama spoke following an Oval Office meeting with Nguyen Phu Trong, the head of Vietnam's Communist Party. Trong is the de facto leader of Vietnam despite holding no official government post. Twenty years after normalising diplomatic ties with its one-time foe, the US is eager to improve relations with Vietnam. Even as Obama and Trong emphasised areas of cooperation, the US president said they spoke candidly about human rights and religious freedom in Vietnam. Trong said he extended an invitation for Obama to visit Vietnam and the president had accepted. While Obama noted the invitation, he made no specific commitments to travel to Vietnam during his presidency. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter: https://twitter.com/AP_Archive Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/APArchives ​​ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/APNews/ You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/...