WASHINGTON, May 21 (UPI) -- U.S. President Barack Obama left for his 10th trip to Asia on Saturday as he prepared to visit Vietnam and Japan.
According to a Whitehouse Statement the weeklong trip is meant to "highlight the President's ongoing commitment to the U.S. Rebalance to Asia and the Pacific" while also looking to increase U.S. diplomatic, economic, and security engagement with the countries and peoples of the region.
The president departed from the Whitehouse on Saturday as he travels to meet with Vietnam's leadership from May 23-24 to discuss ways for the U.S.-Vietnam Comprehensive Partnership to advance in areas such as economic, people-to-people, security, human rights, and global and regional issues.
While in Vietnam President Obama will also discuss the approval of he Trans-Pacific Partnership while speaking at events and meetings in Ho Chi Minh City, as well as Hanoi where he will deliver a speech on U.S.-Vietnam relations.
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President Obama will then travel to Japan where he will be the first president to visit Hiroshima as he will meet with Prime Minister Abe as part of his commitment to pursuing a world without nuclear weapons.
The president will first attend his last G-7 Summit in Ise-Shima where he will look to advance the U.S.-Japan alliance and further push the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
In preparation for the president's visit Vietnam released Nguyen Van Ly, a 70-year-old Roman Catholic priest who was held as a prisoner of conscience for nearly two decades, as an act of good will.
"He returned to the mother diocese on Friday morning," Ly's sister, Nguyen Thi Hieu, told Voice of America. "On our visit [with] him in jail three weeks ago, he told us he would return on August 10 when he finishes his eight-year sentence."
