On the occasion of attending and delivering the keynote speech at the 23rd Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore on May 29, General Secretary and President To Lam had meetings with US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, Deputy Prime Minister and Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles and Japanese Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi.
Countries all shared that the invitation of General Secretary and President To Lam to deliver the keynote speech at the 23rd Shangri-La Dialogue affirmed the international community's importance for Vietnam's role, voice and contributions to regional strategic issues, and at the same time showed concern for Vietnam's views and approaches in promoting dialogue, building trust, strengthening cooperation and addressing common challenges.
In a re-meeting with US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, General Secretary and President To Lam proposed that the two sides continue to consolidate political trust through strengthening contacts and delegation exchanges at all levels; on this occasion, sending an invitation to President Donald Trump to pay an official visit to Vietnam.
The two sides agreed that economic, trade and investment cooperation will continue to be an important driving force of the two countries' relations, and at the same time continue to strengthen exchanges, coordination and expand cooperation in areas of mutual concern, especially economy, trade, investment, science and technology, innovation, defense and security.
The General Secretary and President also requested the US to pay attention to Vietnam's legitimate development needs, create conditions for Vietnam to access more advanced technology and high-tech products from the US, contributing to expanding substantive and more balanced cooperation between the two economies.
The two sides also agreed to continue to maintain ongoing war recovery cooperation programs, considering this one of the important factors contributing to strengthening trust, healing the past and creating a foundation for stable and long-term development of Vietnam-US relations.
At the meeting with Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence of Australia Richard Marles, General Secretary and President acknowledged and highly appreciated Australia's effective support for Vietnam in the field of defense, especially English language training for officers, military medical training, support for United Nations peacekeeping forces and transportation of Vietnamese field hospitals to South Sudan.
Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles welcomed Vietnam's sending ships to participate in the Kakadu Multilateral Naval Exercise in Australia recently as well as the effective implementation of the Partnership Agreement on Peacekeeping and defense training activities; shared Australia's newly announced 2026 Defense Strategy, especially the content of promoting defense cooperation with countries in the region, including Vietnam.
At the meeting with Japanese Defense Minister Koizumi Shinjiro, General Secretary and President To Lam requested the two sides to continue to maintain regular contacts and exchanges between senior leaders, promote the effectiveness of existing dialogue and consultation mechanisms; strengthen defense-security cooperation, improve law enforcement capacity, United Nations peacekeeping, military medicine, rescue and relief, cybersecurity and human resource training.
The General Secretary and President also requested the two sides to continue to closely coordinate and share positions on regional and international issues of common concern, contributing to maintaining peace, stability, cooperation and development in the region.
Minister Koizumi Shinjiro affirmed that Japan will continue to closely coordinate with Vietnam to effectively implement the agreements and common understandings reached between the senior leaders of the two countries; expressed support for strengthening substantive cooperation, meeting the interests and concerns of each country.
