On the evening of May 7 (local time), the special plane carrying General Secretary and President To Lam and the high-level Vietnamese delegation landed at Bandaranaike International Airport, Colombo capital (Sri Lanka) to begin a state visit to the Socialist Democratic Republic of Sri Lanka from May 7-8, at the invitation of Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake.
Participating in the official delegation were comrades: Nguyen Duy Ngoc - Member of the Politburo, Secretary of the Party Central Committee, Head of the Central Organization Committee; Nguyen Thanh Nghi - Member of the Politburo, Secretary of the Party Central Committee, Head of the Central Policy and Strategy Committee; General Phan Van Giang - Member of the Politburo, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of National Defense; General Luong Tam Quang - Member of the Politburo, Minister of Public Security; Le Hoai Trung - Member of the Politburo, Minister of Foreign Affairs; Tran Luu Quang - Member of the Politburo, Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee; Nguyen Hai Ninh - Member of the Party Central Committee, Chief of the Party Central Committee Office; Nguyen Doan Anh - Member of the Party Central Committee, Vice Chairman of the National Assembly; Le Khanh Hai - Member of the Party Central Committee, Chairman of the Presidential Office; Ngo Van Tuan - Member of the Party Central Committee, Minister of Finance; Vu Hai Quan - Member of the Party Central Committee, Minister of Science and Technology; Dao Hong Lan - Member of
Welcoming General Secretary and President To Lam and the high-level Vietnamese delegation at the airport were Sri Lankan Prime Minister Harini Amarasuriya and some members of the Sri Lankan Government; Vietnamese Ambassador to Sri Lanka Trinh Thi Tam, along with a large number of officials and staff of the Embassy and representatives of the Vietnamese community in Sri Lanka.
At the airport, the honorary squad stood along the red carpet and Sri Lankan artists performed traditional dances to welcome General Secretary and President To Lam and the high-level Vietnamese delegation.
Sri Lankan Prime Minister Harini Amarasuriya welcomes General Secretary and President To Lam at the foot of the aircraft stairs. Two children present General Secretary and President To Lam with betel leaves, showing hospitality according to Sri Lankan customs.
Next, General Secretary and President To Lam and Sri Lankan Prime Minister Harini Amarasuriya walked along the red carpet, reviewing the honorary squad.
For 56 years since Vietnam and Sri Lanka established diplomatic relations on July 21, 1970, the traditional friendly relations between the two countries have been constantly strengthened and developed in many fields.
The State visit to Sri Lanka by General Secretary and President To Lam this time contributes to consolidating the traditional friendly relationship, tightening the sincere friendship between the leaders and peoples of the two countries that has been built throughout history; it will become an important political milestone, creating new momentum and opening up a new stage of development for the two countries' relations with increased political trust at a higher level, cooperation on a wider and deeper scale, more effective and substantive.
