Vietnam’s Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and U.S. President Donald Trump met on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Osaka, Japan on Friday, where they briefly exchanged remarks on the two countries’ economic-trade ties.

The U.S. president voiced support for strong cooperation between Vietnam and his country, particularly in the energy sector, and hailed the Vietnamese government’s determination to crack down on violations of trade fraud and product origin rules.

The Vietnamese Ministry of Industry and Trade and the U.S. Department of Energy are expected to sign a deal on energy cooperation and import of liquefied natural gas from the U.S.

Trump also asked for balanced and mutually-beneficial trade ties between the two countries, the Vietnam News Agency reported.

Also on Friday, the Vietnamese foreign ministry spokesperson Le Thi Thu Hang made the affirmation that Vietnam attaches importance to developing the comprehensive partnership with the U.S.

Hang added that bilateral ties between Vietnam and the U.S. have seen good progress in all aspects, particularly in economic-trade-investment relations.

“With the view that the two economies can supplement each other, Vietnam wants to promote free and fair economic-trade-investment ties with the U.S. on the basis of mutual benefit,” the Vietnam News Agency quoted Hang as saying.

She went on to say that in that spirit, Vietnam has made many efforts to improve the trade balance between the two countries.

Particularly, Vietnam has increased the import of products which are in the U.S.’s strength and needed by Vietnam, bettering the investment and business environment, creating favorable conditions for U.S. firms which want to operate in Vietnam, and encouraging Vietnamese firms to invest and do business in the U.S.

According to the spokesperson, Vietnam has implemented numerous measures to curb and prevent trade frauds and the export of foreign goods disguised as Vietnam-made goods to other markets.

Vietnam and the U.S. regularly hold discussions through available mechanisms such as the Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) to form a long-term and comprehensive cooperative strategy, further intensify bilateral economic, trade and investment relations and timely address arising problems, Hang said.

PM Phuc is on a June 27 to July 1 trip to Japan, where he attended the G20 Summit at the invitation of his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe.

On the sidelines of the summit on Friday, the Vietnamese head of government also met with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Chilean President Sebastian Piñera, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker.

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