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 Indonesia 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 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, 2025.
Speaking in a press conference before the visit, Central Party Committee member, Permanent Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 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.
Our Party has official relations with major Indonesian political parties, the Government of Industry (Golkar) and the Party of Democracy and Combat (PDI-P), as well as the ruling People's Action Party of Singapore. Vietnam and 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 Vietnam and 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. Meanwhile, Singapore is currently Vietnam's largest investor in ASEAN and second in the world. One of the symbols of success is the Singapore - Vietnam Industrial Parks (VSIP). To date, there have been 18 VSIP areas in 13 provinces and cities, attracting more than 18.7 billion USD in investment capital, creating jobs for more than 300,000 workers. Bilateral trade turnover in 2024 is estimated at 10.3 billion USD.
Regarding Vietnam - ASEAN relations, Deputy Minister Nguyen Manh Cuong said that the three decades since joining 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. 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.
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.
The General Secretary's visit this time demonstrates the consistent implementation of the foreign policy of independence, self-reliance, peace, cooperation and development, multilateralization and diversification of foreign relations, clearly affirming the strategic importance of ASEAN in Vietnam's foreign policy.
The visit not only strengthens political trust, deepenes existing areas of cooperation between Vietnam and the two countries, between our Party and the two countries' political parties, but also creates momentum to explore new and promising areas of cooperation, especially in science - technology, digital economy, green economy, innovation, aiming to become a model in international relations, on the basis of respect for international law, independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity and political institutions of each country, bringing practical benefits to the people of the two countries, contributing to the development process of each country, to the development process of Vietnam in the era of national growth.
