The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Agreement is a great chance for Vietnam and the US to institutionalise their economic cooperation further, a foreign scholar has commented.

TPP is one of the major contents to be discussed during the ongoing visit to the US by President Truong Tan Sang, which began on July 24.

“TPP will increase opportunities for US companies to access to Vietnamese market but also for Vietnamese export to the US,” Andrew Billo, Assistant Director of Policy Programme of the Asia Society in New York said in an interview with the New York-based Vietnam News Agency correspondents on July 24.

The scholar said President Sang’s visit is a good opportunity for both countries to discuss a range of issues like trade, educational exchanges and further improve a range of other security issues that is increasingly important to both Vietnam and the US when the US turned to Asia as the continent is increasingly part of the US’s economic future.

According to Billo, Vietnam-US relationship has improved immensely since the two countries normalised their relations in 1995 and it is increasingly important as Vietnam holds a very strategic position in Southeast Asia.

“I think the future of Vietnam-US relationship looking overall very bright,” the scholar said.

He referred to educational exchanges, business cooperation, military cooperation and a range of issues where the two countries can find overlap as generating an array of opportunities for bilateral collaboration to go further.

Speaking about some challenges and differences in points of view like democracy, human rights and political systems between the two countries, the scholar, however, said the US increasingly recognises the value and strategic relationship as opposed to pressing on democracy and human rights.-VNA