According to the announcement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, at the invitation of the President of the Republic of Indonesia, President of the Great Indonesian Movement Party ( Gerindra) Prabowo Subianto, ASEAN Secretary General Kao Kim Hourn and Singapore Prime Minister, General Secretary of the Singapore People's Action Party (PAP) Lawrence Wong, General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam To Lam and his wife will pay a state visit to the Republic of Indonesia, an official visit to the ASEAN Secretariat and an official visit to the Republic of Singapore from September 9-13.
Outstanding results in cooperation between Indonesia and Singapore and Vietnam
Speaking in a press conference before the visit, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Nguyen Manh Cuong said that Indonesia and Singapore are important partners of Vietnam in the region. In recent years, political trust between Vietnam and the two countries has been increasingly consolidated, cooperation in all fields, through the channels of the Party, State, National Assembly and people has become increasingly close, effective and achieved many important results.
Indonesia is the first country in South Asia to establish diplomatic relations with Vietnam in 1955. After 70 years, especially since the Strategic Partnership was established (in 2013), cooperation between the two countries has become more comprehensive and extensive.
Our Party has official relations with Indonesia's major parties, the Party of the Workers (Golkar) and the Party of the Democratic- Combat Party (PDI-P). The two countries share many benefits and strategic views on regional and international issues, especially within the framework of ASEAN and the East Sea issue.
Economic cooperation between the two countries has achieved many positive results. Indonesia is Vietnam's second largest trading partner in ASEAN; Vietnam is Indonesia's fourth largest trading partner in ASEAN. Bilateral trade turnover has increased 4 times over the past decade; reaching 16.7 billion USD in 2024.
After more than 50 years of officially establishing diplomatic relations (1973), more than 10 years of the Strategic Partnership (2013), the Vietnam - Singapore relationship continues to develop strongly in both breadth and depth, comprehensively on the channels of the Party, State, Government, National Assembly and people, high level of political trust; regularly exchanging delegations at high and all levels.
Our Party has a good cooperative relationship with the ruling Singapore People's Action Party, regularly exchanging experiences in building and developing the country and effectively coordinating in training and fostering strategic-level cadres. The National Assemblies of the two countries cooperate well both bilaterally and multilaterally.
Singapore is the economic locomotive of the region, one of Vietnam's leading important economic partners. Economic, trade and investment relations have developed vibrantly, achieving many substantial achievements. Singapore is currently Vietnam's largest investor in ASEAN and second in the world.
Vietnam's strong mark in ASEAN
Deputy Minister Nguyen Manh Cuong said that the three decades since we joined ASEAN in 1995 to date have been a journey with many memorable marks for both Vietnam and ASEAN.
That 30 years have witnessed a Vietnam that has gradually matured, gradually developed, been proactive and ready to contribute more to the common work.
Throughout its participation in ASEAN, Vietnam has always given the highest priority to maintaining ASEAN solidarity and unity.
Vietnam's 2020 ASEAN presidency was a challenging term, but we have been very successful in our leadership role, mobilizing overall strength, joining hands to take action to help ASEAN overcome unprecedented difficulties of the COVID-19 pandemic, fully reflecting the theme "Connecting and proactively adapting".
Our contribution is also reflected in our responsible and proactive participation in shaping ASEAN's strategic decisions. In particular, it is impossible not to mention the ASEAN Future Forum 2025 which has just been held very successfully in Hanoi.
Expectations about General Secretary To Lam's working trip
Deputy Minister Nguyen Manh Cuong emphasized that this is the first visit of a General Secretary to Indonesia in nearly 8 years (since August 2017), to Singapore in nearly 13 years (since September 2012) and is a historic visit, also the first time our General Secretary has visited the ASEAN Secretariat.
This visit of the General Secretary demonstrates the consistent implementation of the foreign policy of independence, self-reliance, peace, cooperation and development, multilateralization and diversification of foreign relations, attaching importance to relations with neighboring countries in the region of our Party and State, including two important partners, Indonesia and Singapore.
The visit also clearly affirms the strategic importance of ASEAN in our foreign policy, further demonstrating Vietnam's proactive, responsible and creative spirit, with practical contributions, joining hands to realize ASEAN's future aspirations.
"I believe that the upcoming visit of the General Secretary will lay the foundation, opening up new cooperation spaces for relations between Vietnam and Indonesia, Singapore and ASEAN" - the Deputy Minister emphasized.
