"General Secretary To Lam's visit to the UK carries a strong foreign policy message"

(Dan Tri) - General Secretary To Lam's visit to the UK is expected to create new breakthroughs in cooperation between the two countries, especially in areas with potential and complementary strengths.

At the invitation of Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (UK) Keir Starmer, General Secretary To Lam and his wife, along with a high-ranking Vietnamese delegation, will pay an official visit to the UK from October 28 to October 30.

Deputy Foreign Minister Le Thi Thu Hang answers questions from the press ahead of General Secretary To Lam's official visit to the UK.

Deputy Minister, please tell us the meaning and purpose of General Secretary To Lam's official visit to the UK?

- General Secretary To Lam's official visit to the UK carries a strong and consistent foreign policy message, affirming an independent and self-reliant foreign policy for peace, cooperation and development, while multilateralizing and diversifying international relations, demonstrating Vietnam's determination to proactively and actively integrate comprehensively into the world, becoming a friend, a reliable partner and a responsible member of the international community.

In particular, the visit took place on the occasion of the 15th anniversary of the establishment of the Vietnam - UK Strategic Partnership (2010-2025). The visit is an important milestone for the two countries to look back on the past cooperation journey, evaluate the outstanding achievements, and at the same time set out a new vision and development orientation for bilateral relations in the coming period.

General Secretary To Lam and his wife Ngo Phuong Ly (Photo: VNA).

The UK is a global power, a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, and one of the world's leading countries in science and technology, defense and security, finance and innovation.

These are all fields that are suitable for the development needs and strategic orientation of Vietnam today, when the country is striving to promote industrialization, modernization and deep integration into the global economy.

General Secretary To Lam's visit is expected to create new breakthroughs in cooperation between the two countries, especially in areas with potential and complementary strengths.

Thereby, contributing to the effective implementation of the Politburo's key resolutions on science - technology development and innovation, promoting deep and comprehensive international integration, perfecting institutions, developing the private economic sector, promoting education - training, caring for and improving people's health, ensuring national energy security, in line with Vietnam's sustainable development vision and long-term strategy, towards a new era of dynamic and creative development.

With those important purposes and meanings, I strongly believe that the visit will open a new chapter in cooperation between the two countries with long-term and sustainable development cooperation orientations, in accordance with the interests and strengths of each country.

General Secretary To Lam received British Ambassador to Vietnam Iain Frew on the afternoon of October 17 (Photo: VNA).

How does the Deputy Minister assess the Vietnam - UK relationship in recent times and what are his expectations for this working trip of General Secretary To Lam?

- Vietnam and the UK established diplomatic relations on September 11, 1973, and the UK was one of the first Western countries to establish diplomatic relations with Vietnam.

Over the past half century, the friendship and solidarity between the people of the two countries have been constantly strengthened and developed.

The official visit of General Secretary To Lam is not only an important foreign event, but also clearly demonstrates Vietnam's respect for Western European media partners, including the UK, in Vietnam's foreign policy and comprehensive international integration process.

Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Le Thi Thu Hang (Photo: Ministry of Foreign Affairs).

The visit takes place in the context of Vietnam - UK relations developing strongly and achieving many encouraging results.

In 2010, the two countries signed a Joint Statement establishing a Strategic Partnership, opening a new stage of development in bilateral cooperation.

In 2020, on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the Strategic Partnership, Vietnam and the UK continued to issue a Joint Statement on the development orientation of the Strategic Partnership in the next 10 years, focusing on deepening 7 priority areas of cooperation, creating an important premise for upgrading and expanding relations in the coming period, in accordance with the interests, potentials and strengths of both countries.

Based on those important orientations, in recent times, the two countries have regularly exchanged delegations at high and all levels, thereby enhancing political trust in all fields, serving the country's development goals.

At the same time, it strengthens and enhances Vietnam's foreign position in relations with the European region, the Commonwealth as well as with other countries in the world.

The two sides also maintain dialogue and bilateral cooperation mechanisms through annual diplomatic, security and defense channels, training cooperation, and experience sharing in areas such as UN peacekeeping, seas and oceans, migration and immigration, crime prevention and control, etc.

In terms of economics, trade and investment, the UK is currently Vietnam's third largest trading partner in Europe and Vietnam is the UK's largest trading partner in Southeast Asia.

In terms of science and technology, the two sides have implemented about 50 joint research projects and a number of other cooperative activities.

There are more than 12,000 Vietnamese students studying at UK universities and educational institutions.

Cooperation in other fields such as culture, sports and people-to-people exchange also achieved important results.

The above positive achievements have the determination and efforts of both sides, and the contributions of businesses and people of the two countries.

It can be said that this is an important premise for us to expect that the General Secretary's official visit to the UK in the coming days will bring the bilateral relationship between the two countries to a new, more comprehensive and stronger height.

At the same time, continue to promote the effective implementation of existing cooperation mechanisms and agreements, and upgrade and establish new cooperation mechanisms.

In addition, it is necessary to expand and deepen traditional cooperation areas, while opening up new and breakthrough directions that are suitable to the potential and meet the practical needs of each country today in a rapidly changing world situation.

We expect that major cooperation projects will be launched, many exchange activities will be organized, and the people of the two countries will understand and become closer to each other.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/thoi-su/chuyen-tham-anh-cua-tong-bi-thu-to-lam-mang-thong-diep-doi-ngoai-manh-me-20251027141814100.htm