On October 26, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement stating that, at the invitation of Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland Keir Starmer, General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam To Lam and his wife, along with the high-ranking Vietnamese delegation, will pay an official visit to the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland from October 28-30, 2025.
Vietnam and the UK established diplomatic relations on September 11, 733.
The two countries signed a Joint Statement on the establishment of the Vietnam - UK Strategic Partnership in September 2010.
The two sides issued a new Joint Statement on strategic partnership on September 30, 2020 with 7 priority areas of cooperation and affirmed that the two sides aim to elevate relations to a higher level in the next 10 years.
Current bilateral cooperation mechanisms include: Annual Strategic Dialogue mechanism at the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs level; Deputy Minister-level Defense Policy Dialogue; Meeting of the Joint Committee on Economy and Trade (JETCO); Dialogue on Migration.
Regarding economic and trade cooperation, the two countries signed the Vietnam - UK Free Trade Agreement (UKVFTA), officially effective on December 31, 2020.
Bilateral trade turnover in 2024 will reach 8.424 billion USD, an increase of 18% compared to 2023. Of which, Vietnam exports 7.543 billion USD, up 18.9% compared to 2023; imports reached 881.050 million USD, up 10.8%.
Trade turnover in the first 8 months of 2025 reached 6.1 billion USD (up 9.3% over the same period in 2024), of which Vietnam's exports reached 5.4 billion USD (up 8.2%), imports reached 630.9 million USD (up 19.8%).
Regarding investment, according to data from the Ministry of Industry and Trade, by the end of August 2025, the UK had nearly 606 projects still valid for investment in Vietnam, with a total registered capital reaching about 4.65 billion USD, ranking 15/152 among countries and territories with investment projects in Vietnam.
Investment capital focuses on processing industry (1.77 billion USD), real estate business activities (1.1 billion USD), mining (701 million USD).
Vietnam has 16 projects with a total registered capital of more than 37.6 million USD in the fields of financial investment, retail, auto, motorbike repair, accommodation and catering services.
