Deputy Minister Le Thi Thu Hang: General Secretary's visit to the UK carries a strong foreign policy message

VTV.vn - According to Deputy Foreign Minister Le Thi Thu Hang, General Secretary To Lam's official visit to the UK carries a strong and consistent foreign policy message.

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

Ahead of General Secretary To Lam's official visit to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Deputy Foreign Minister Le Thi Thu Hang gave an interview to the press.

Could the Deputy Minister tell us the meaning and purpose of General Secretary To Lam 's official visit to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland?

Deputy Minister Le Thi Thu Hang: 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 United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland from October 28-30, 2025.

In the context of Vietnam's high-level foreign affairs activities taking place very excitingly such as the signing ceremony of the United Nations Convention against Cybercrime held in Hanoi, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh attending the 47th ASEAN Summit in Malaysia - General Secretary To Lam's official visit to the United Kingdom carries a strong and consistent foreign policy message. That is to affirm the foreign policy of independence, self-reliance, for peace, cooperation and development, while multilateralizing and diversifying international relations, demonstrating Vietnam's determination to proactively and actively integrate into the world comprehensively, 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 - United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland Strategic Partnership (2010-2025), which is an important milestone for the two countries to look back on the past cooperation journey, evaluate outstanding achievements, and set out a new vision and development orientation for bilateral relations in the coming period.

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 areas that are consistent with Vietnam's current development needs and strategic orientation, as 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 vision of sustainable development 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, for the benefit of the people and all-round development of each country, for peace, stability, cooperation and development in each region and in the world.

Could you please assess the Vietnam - UK relationship in recent times and your expectations for this working trip of the General Secretary?

Deputy Minister Le Thi Thu Hang: 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 continuously 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 traditional Western European partners, including the UK, in Vietnam's foreign policy and comprehensive international integration process.

The visit took place in the context of the Vietnam-UK relationship 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 seven priority areas of cooperation, creating an important premise for upgrading and expanding the relationship 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, and at the same time consolidating and enhancing our foreign position in relations with the European region, the Commonwealth as well as with other countries in the world. The two sides also maintain a dialogue mechanism, bilateral cooperation on annual diplomatic, security - defense channels, training cooperation, experience sharing in areas such as UN peacekeeping, seas and oceans, migration and immigration, crime prevention and control, etc.

In terms of economy, 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. The UK has 587 valid projects in Vietnam, with a total registered capital of about 4.46 billion USD, ranking 15th out of 152 countries and territories investing in Vietnam. Vietnam is also one of the first countries to sign a free trade agreement with the UK after Brexit, making good use of this agreement, thereby bringing bilateral trade turnover to grow strongly year by year.

In terms of science and technology, the two sides have implemented about 50 joint research projects and a number of other cooperation activities. In terms of environment and climate change, the UK is the coordinator and actively supports Vietnam in implementing the Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP) between Vietnam and the International Partnership Group (IPG). In terms of development cooperation, the UK is one of Vietnam's leading donors through the Prosperity Fund, the Newton Fund, the Climate Action Programme for a Sustainable Asia (CARA)... The UK is a destination chosen by many Vietnamese students. Currently, there are more than 12,000 Vietnamese students studying at UK universities and educational institutions. In addition, thousands of Vietnamese experts and intellectuals are also working in the fields of scientific research, technology, finance and innovation in the UK. Cooperation in other areas such as culture, sports and people-to-people exchange has also achieved important results.

The above positive achievements have the determination and efforts of both sides, 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 United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in the coming days will bring the bilateral relationship between the two countries to a new, more comprehensive and stronger level; continue to promote the effective implementation of existing cooperation mechanisms and agreements and upgrade and establish new cooperation mechanisms; expand and deepen traditional cooperation areas, while opening up new, breakthrough directions, in line with the potential and meeting the practical needs of each country today in the context of a rapidly changing world. We look forward to major cooperation projects being launched, many exchange activities being organized, and the people of the two countries understanding and getting closer to each other.

Sincerely thank Deputy Minister Le Thi Thu Hang!

Source: https://vtv.vn/thu-truong-le-thi-thu-hang-chuyen-tham-vuong-quoc-anh-cua-tong-bi-thu-mang-thong-diep-doi-ngoai-manh-me-100251027144936366.htm