Building trust, creating a new era of Vietnam-Finland cooperation

By upgrading the relationship to Strategic Partnership, Vietnam and the Republic of Finland have taken an important step to deepen bilateral and multilateral relations, for the benefit of the peoples of the two countries. Many new cooperation opportunities are opening up, promising a more sustainable bond between the two countries.

General Secretary To Lam met with some typical Finnish businesses in Helsinki, October 21, 2025. (Photo: VNA)

The capital Helsinki these days is dyed in the brilliant yellow color typical of Northern European autumn. The poetic scenery with forests of yellow and red leaves spreading a colorful carpet on the streets and on the vast green lawns. The vivid highlight in the scene is the trams running slowly and quietly around the streets. The unhurried pace of life, the diverse and sustainable economic development, and the high quality of life make Finland a model for many countries to learn from, including Vietnam.

Finland is one of the first Nordic countries to recognize and establish diplomatic relations with Vietnam. “Finnish clean water” is still mentioned by the Vietnamese people as a symbol of friendship and your persistent and effective assistance.

During the most difficult period for Vietnam, Finland was one of the leading countries in providing development aid with Finnish clean water projects, Finnish water supply systems in Hanoi, Hai Phong, etc. Many projects in the fields of hunger eradication, poverty reduction, climate change adaptation, forestry, etc. implemented in localities, especially remote areas, have made important contributions to the socio-economic development process, improving and enhancing the lives of the Vietnamese people.

Finland is one of the first Nordic countries to recognize and establish diplomatic relations with Vietnam. “Finnish clean water” is still mentioned by the Vietnamese people as a symbol of friendship and your persistent and effective assistance.

The visit of General Secretary To Lam and his wife and the high-ranking delegation is the highest-level visit of Vietnam to Finland since the two countries established diplomatic relations, demonstrating the sincere feelings and respect of the Party, State and people of Vietnam for Finland, a country that has actively helped Vietnam.

The visit creates opportunities for more comprehensive and in-depth cooperation in many fields, especially in potential areas such as digital economy, green economy, circular economy, science and technology, maritime, renewable energy, high-tech agriculture, etc. These are areas in which Finland has strengths and a lot of experience and Vietnam is prioritizing promoting development.

During the visit, General Secretary To Lam had a meeting with typical Finnish businesses. Many representatives of leading businesses in the fields of Circular Economy, Industry-Energy, Technology-Services-Infrastructure, attended the meeting, shared cooperation ideas, projects that have been, are and will be implemented in Vietnam and expressed their desire to deepen trade relations with Vietnam.

The positive energy and interest of Finnish enterprises in the Vietnamese market can be clearly felt. Enterprises not only propose to open new cooperation spaces but also demonstrate long-term commitment to the Vietnamese market, carry out technology transfer and labor training.

The General Secretary encouraged the business communities of the two countries to increase exchanges, connections, investments and cooperation in areas where both sides have similar strengths and needs such as renewable energy, clean industry, environmental technology, forest resource management, education, science-technology and innovation.

The General Secretary paid special attention to proposals from Finnish businesses in the field of circular economy, a development model that Vietnam is determined to strongly promote; he affirmed that Vietnam wishes to cooperate more deeply with Finnish businesses in technology transfer, experience sharing, and building industrial parks, urban areas, and value chains based on circular, zero-emission principles.

Finland is a pioneer in the field of circular economy with many successful models. You are working hard to apply many solutions to achieve the goal of carbon neutrality by 2035.

According to Finnish Minister of Employment Matias Marttinen, the strength of Finnish companies lies in technological innovation and a human-centered approach to problem solving. Vietnam is a dynamic market. Finnish companies want to work closely with Vietnamese partners to create business opportunities together. Companies and people of both countries need to actively interact to explore new areas of cooperation that bring real value.

According to foreign direct investment data from the Ministry of Finance, Wartsila Group, one of the largest global energy corporations in Finland, expressed its desire to participate in the Power Plan VIII and implement the first LNG gas power plant project combined with renewable energy in Vietnam, located in Ninh Binh.

During the talks, General Secretary To Lam and President Alexander Stubb exchanged major strategic orientations to develop the bilateral relationship in line with its current stature, and agreed to promote cooperation in many fields, especially in areas that both sides need to promote development in the coming time such as circular economy, green transformation, sustainable maritime cooperation, digital transformation, environment and climate change response...

In the joint statement, the two leaders agreed to strengthen energy cooperation to promote Vietnam's transition to renewable energy, focusing on energy efficiency and emission reduction; committed to promoting cooperation in developing smart cities, green seaports, aviation, and logistics with a focus on high-tech application and automation.

Despite its developed economy, Finland is facing some difficulties such as limited resources, high labor costs and exports that have not met expectations. In addition to development cooperation and expanding the exploitation of potential markets, Finland also wants to attract high-quality labor and human resources from other countries. This is also the desire of the Vietnamese community in Finland and the Nordic countries. That is to create a "closed human resource cycle", starting with training highly skilled Vietnamese workers according to the standards of the host country in the industries they are lacking.

This human resource not only helps solve the problem of labor shortage but also helps Vietnamese workers improve their skills, accumulate international experience, and when they return, they will become core experts bringing capital, technology and industrial style, creating added value for the Vietnamese economy. Vietnam has a young population, a relatively large labor market with more than 52 million workers, and the quality of labor is increasingly improving.

Currently, in Finland, there are more than 2,500 Vietnamese students studying in the fields of economics, information technology, tourism... In 2025, the two sides reached a general agreement on moving towards sending Vietnamese workers and experts to Finland to work with the same standards and conditions as Finnish citizens.

Looking back over the past half century, the Vietnam-Finland friendship has grown increasingly well, from traditional development cooperation programs to high-tech, education, energy and environmental cooperation projects in the current period. Based on the content of the Joint Statement, relevant ministries and branches of the two countries will coordinate closely and develop as soon as possible an action plan to concretize major orientations to promote cooperation, develop the traditional friendship and the Vietnam-Finland Strategic Partnership.

Affirming that the future still has a lot of open potential, General Secretary To Lam said that the two countries can together build a model of cooperation between an advanced Nordic economy and a dynamic Southeast Asian country. Together, the two countries can foster trust, overcome challenges, share development achievements and create a new era of Vietnam-Finland cooperation.

HANH NGUYEN

Source: https://nhandan.vn/vun-dap-long-tin-tao-nen-ky-nguyen-moi-cua-hop-tac-viet-nam-phan-lan-post917295.html