President Vo Van Thuong will attend the 3rd Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation (BRI Forum) in Beijing on October 17

This is President Vo Van Thuong’s first trip to China since Vietnam’s 13th Party Congress in 2021 and China’s 20th Party Congress in 2022.

Practical bilateral ties reach the highest level ever

Vietnam and China established diplomatic relations on January 18, 1950. Over the past 70 years, bilateral relations have grown steadily. The Vietnam-China comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership established in 2008 has developed fruitfully, especially since Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong’s official visit to China last November.

This year, the two countries have expanded delegation exchanges at all levels. Bilateral economic, trade, and investment cooperation have developed substantially, with two-way trade totaling more than 175 billion USD last year, up 5.47%. In the first 9 months of this year, bilateral trade reached 122 billion USD.

People-to-people exchanges between the two countries are recovering rapidly. In the past 9 months, the number of Chinese visitors to Vietnam has exceeded one million.

Chinese Ambassador to Vietnam Xiong Bo said: "Practical cooperation between the two countries has reached the highest level in history. The highlight of bilateral ties is not only stronger political mutual trust, but also stronger economic, trade, and investment ties, which is of great significance for the development of the two countries. China has been Vietnam's largest trading partner for many years, while Vietnam has been China's largest trading partner in ASEAN."

President Vo Van Thuong is the third Vietnamese senior leader who has attended the BRI Forum organized by China, continuing recent regular exchanges of senior leaders of the two countries. President Thuong’s trip is of great importance, according to Vietnamese Ambassador to China Pham Sao Mai. He said the trip reflects the Vietnamese Party and State’s priority for developing ties with China and Vietnam’s respect for cooperation initiatives like the Belt and Road Initiative. This is an opportunity for the two countries to discuss in-depth measures to concretize their common perception, Ambassador Mai said. Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong’s visit to China is of great importance to promoting the Vietnam-China comprehensive strategic cooperation partnership in a stable, practical, and in-depth manner, with greater political trust, and on a more sustainable foundation, with better-controlled disagreements, he noted.

Contributing to peace, cooperation, economic links, regional connectivity

Attending the 3rd BRI Forum for International Cooperation, President Thuong will deliver a speech at the high-level session "The digital economy as a new driving force of growth". Pham Sao Mai said the Forum draws senior leaders of many countries, delegates, businesses from 140 countries, and international organizations. This will amplify Vietnam's voice in promoting peace, cooperation, economic integration, and regional connectivity, deepen Vietnam’s relations with countries around the world, and contribute to promoting regional and global economic growth and implementing the UN 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development, he said.

At the same time, this will promote Vietnam’s socio-economic development achievements and deliver messages about Vietnam's goals, perspectives, and development orientation, according to the Ambassador,

Amid unprecedented developments around the world, President Vo Van Thuong’s participation at the 3rd BRI Forum for International Cooperation is part of practical activities to implement Vietnam’s foreign policy of independence, self-reliance, peace, friendship, cooperation, development, multilateralization, diversification, and active, comprehensive, extensive, flexible, and effective international integration.

President Thuong’s trip conveys a message that Vietnam is a trusted friend and partner and an active, responsible member of the international community who wants to contribute to peace, cooperation, economic links, and regional connection.