This is the first time a key leader of Vietnam has attended the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Summit.
Permanent Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Nguyen Minh Vu said that Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh's working trip this time has very important meanings and purposes.
First of all, the fact that our Party and State leaders have been invited to attend many times to the Expanded Summits of organizations and mechanisms to which Vietnam is not a member such as the G7, G20, BRICS and now the SCO shows that international friends and partners highly value the role and position of Vietnam, wanting to listen to our views and voices on security, politics and development issues of the region and the world.
Secondly, in the context of the recent security, political and development situation in the region and the world, there have been some unfavorable and unstable factors, even in the Asian region, with the theme "Implementing multilateralism, maintaining regional security, promoting sustainable development", this expanded SCO Summit will be an opportunity for heads of governments of member countries of the SCO as well as guest leaders like Vietnam to share and discuss specific measures to enhance dialogue cooperation, enhance multilateralism to maintain, ensure stability and regional security as well as promote sustainable development cooperation.
Third, during this working trip, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh will meet with leaders, ministries, branches and enterprises of China to continue to deepen the Comprehensive Strategic Cooperative Partnership and the Vietnam - China Community of Shared Future of strategic significance, especially promoting substantive areas of cooperation in economy, trade, investment, and major projects in strategic infrastructure development.
Regarding Vietnam - China relations, Deputy Minister Nguyen Minh Vu said that senior leaders of the two sides have visited each other regularly, the contacts take place flexibly, through various forms such as correspondence and meetings at multilateral forums.
In particular, the areas of substantive cooperation between the two countries in recent times have continued to develop strongly. In the first seven months of 2025, trade turnover continued to increase by over 21%. Tourism cooperation recovers and grows strongly, China returns to the number one position in terms of the number of tourists coming to Vietnam with more than 3.1 million visitors in the first 7 months of 2025, accounting for 22.5% of total international visitors to Vietnam.
Some key areas of cooperation in strategic infrastructure development such as railways have made clear progress; Vietnam's key agricultural products exported to China continue to grow strongly. In particular, along with durian with a total export turnover of over 3 billion USD in 2024, some other agricultural products are also widely exported to the Chinese market.
This working trip of Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh is highly anticipated. This is also an opportunity for the Prime Minister to continue strategic exchanges, enhance political trust with Chinese leaders, find solutions to existing problems between the two countries, especially in the East Sea issue, thereby maintaining a peaceful, stable and favorable environment for the development of the two countries in the coming time.
