U.S. President Joe Biden is set to meet with Vietnam’s President and General Secretary of the Communist Party, To Lam, on Wednesday, as announced by the White House on Sunday. This meeting, initially reported by Reuters, is anticipated to occur during the United Nations General Assembly in New York. Biden aims to strengthen ties with Vietnam, a key Southeast Asian nation and manufacturing center, as part of efforts to counterbalance the influence of Russia and China, with whom Vietnam also maintains relationships. During his visit to Vietnam last September, Biden secured agreements related to semiconductors and minerals, as well as an elevation of Hanoi’s diplomatic status to match that of China and Russia. Lam, who recently assumed the party’s leadership in early August, will be making his first trip to the U.S., where he is scheduled to address the U.N. assembly and engage with representatives from major U.S. companies, including Google and Meta, the parent company of Facebook, as previously reported by Reuters.

Prior to To Lam’s visit to the United States, Vietnamese authorities, under communist rule, reportedly released several notable activists from incarceration before their sentences were completed, according to sources cited by Reuters. Among those released is Tran Huynh Duy Thuc, who received a 16-year prison sentence in January 2010 for subversion, and environmental activist Hoang Thi Minh Hong, who was sentenced to three years for tax fraud in September of the previous year. Lam’s itinerary also features a visit to Cuba, a longstanding Communist ally of Vietnam.