Vilsack is the first sitting American Secretary of Agriculture to visit Vietnam. 

At the National Journal's Healthy Food, Healthy Planet Policy Summit in Washington , D.C. , Vilsack said partnerships with growing markets like China and Vietnam are integral to the strength of the US economy in the decades ahead. 

According to the US Department of Agriculture’s Ag Information Network (Aginfo.net), Vietnam is one of the world's fastest growing economies and an important market for US agricultural products. In the past decade, Vietnam jumped from the fiftieth to fifteenth position as a market for US farm exports. 

“Vietnam is a country I think that understands the importance of modern agricultural technology including biotechnology so it’s an opportunity for us to get an ally in that effort,” Aginfo.net quoted Vilsack as saying. 

He also said the visit to Vietnam will be an opportunity to continue to build on the enormous growth that the US has seen in that market in the last 15 years going from US$175 million in agriculture trade to US$2.3 billion, a 7500 percent increase. 

VNA