President Pro Tempore of the US Senate Patrick Leahy arrived in Hanoi on April 16, beginning his five-day official visit to Vietnam, which aims at further developing the two countries’ bilateral ties.

The visit is made at the invitation of National Assembly Chairman Nguyen Sinh Hung.

As scheduled, on April 17, the senator will hold talks with Chairman Hung.

Two-way trade between the two countries reached 29.10 billion USD in 2013, a year-on-year hike of 18.8 percent, of which 23.87 billion USD was Vietnam’s export earnings.-VNA