United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres begins official visit to Vietnam

On the afternoon of October 24, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres arrived in Hanoi, beginning an official visit to Vietnam and attending the signing ceremony of the United Nations Convention against Cybercrime (Hanoi Convention), from October 24-25, 2025, at the invitation of President Luong Cuong.

Chairman of the Hanoi People's Committee Tran Sy Thanh welcomed United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres at Noi Bai International Airport. Photo: An Dang/VNA

Welcoming the delegation at Noi Bai International Airport were: Chairman of Hanoi People's Committee Tran Sy Thanh; Permanent Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Nguyen Minh Vu; Ambassador Do Hung Viet, Head of the Vietnamese Delegation to the United Nations.

Accompanying UN Secretary-General António Guterres was Ms. Ghada Fathy Ismail Waly, Executive Director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and Director-General of the United Nations Office in Vienna (Austria), and a number of UN officials.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres arrives at Noi Bai International Airport to begin an official visit to Vietnam. Photo: An Dang/VNA

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres was born in 1949, a Portuguese national. He holds a degree in Engineering from the Instituto Superior Tecnico; speaks Portuguese, English, French and Spanish.

He has held the following positions: Founder of the Spanish Refugee Council, the Spanish Consumers Association DECO (early 1970s); Member of the Portuguese Parliament; President of the Parliamentary Committee on Economy, Finance, Planning; Parliamentary Committee on Territorial Administration, Municipalities and Environment (1976 - 1993); Member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, President of the Committee on Population, Migration and Refugees (1981 - 1983); Member of the Portuguese Council of State (1991 - 2002); Vice President of the International Socialist Organization, co-President of the African Committee and later of the Development Committee of this Organization (1992 - 1999); Prime Minister of Portugal (1995 - 2002); President of the International Socialist Organization (an organization of social democratic political parties in the world) (1999 - 2005); President of the European Council (2000); Member of the Madrid Club (an alliance of democratic leaders of former Presidents and Prime Ministers of countries around the world) (from 2002 - present); United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) (2005 - 2015).

Since 2017, Mr. António Guterres has been the Secretary-General of the United Nations (the ninth person to hold this position since the United Nations was founded).

UN Secretary-General António Guterres arrives at Noi Bai International Airport (Hanoi) to begin an official visit to Vietnam. Photo: An Dang/VNA

Mr. António Guterres has special affection for Vietnam, having taken to the streets to protest the war of aggression against Vietnam. As Secretary-General, he has always expressed his commitment to strengthening the Vietnam-United Nations relationship and affirmed that he considers Vietnam an important partner of the United Nations in all fields. The last time the Secretary-General officially visited Vietnam was in October 2022, after being re-elected for a second term (2021-2026).

Source: https://baotintuc.vn/thoi-su/tong-thu-ky-lien-hop-quoc-antonio-guterres-bat-dau-tham-chinh-thuc-viet-nam-20251024141807360.htm