During the meeting with South Korean Ambassador Choi Young Sam, President To Lam expressed his pleasure at witnessing the Vietnam-South Korea relationship at its best stage of development; political trust between the two countries is constantly being strengthened; cooperation in various fields is developing remarkably, as evidenced by the upgrading of the relationship to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.
The President affirmed that the Party, State, and People of Vietnam always value and wish to work with the Government and People of South Korea to further develop the comprehensive strategic partnership with South Korea in a deeper, more substantive, and more effective manner.
Appreciating the efforts of the Ambassador and the Korean Embassy in coordinating with relevant Vietnamese ministries and agencies to promote bilateral relations in the past, President To Lam emphasized several major directions for Ambassador Choi Young Sam to promote during his term, including maintaining regular high-level visits and contacts at all levels through various flexible forms to strengthen political trust between the two countries; and effectively implementing the Action Program for the Vietnam-Korea Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.
Both sides will promote defense and security cooperation to develop in line with the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, including the fight against transnational crime and non-traditional security crimes. Simultaneously, they will accelerate the completion of the goal of increasing trade turnover to US$100 billion, aiming for US$150 billion by 2030; encourage Korean businesses to continue expanding their investment in Vietnam, thereby creating a new wave of investment in areas such as high technology, semiconductor manufacturing, digital transformation, green transformation, and renewable energy; strengthen cooperation in education, culture, tourism, local cooperation, and people-to-people exchanges; and expand cooperation and mutual support on international and regional issues of common concern.
For his part, Ambassador Choi Young Sam expressed his honor to greet the President in his capacity as the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of South Korea to Vietnam; affirming that he will make every effort to contribute to promoting the increasingly substantive and effective development of bilateral relations in all fields.
Ambassador Choi Young Sam expressed his desire to cooperate closely with relevant Vietnamese agencies in implementing cooperation agreements between the two countries, especially in areas such as promoting high-level and other exchanges between the two countries; strengthening substantive cooperation in the fields of economics, trade, and investment, especially in areas of interest to Vietnam and strengths to South Korea, such as the development of liquefied natural gas (LNG) power plants, nuclear power plants, and the construction of strategic infrastructure in Vietnam; expanding substantive cooperation in the defense industry between the two countries; and strengthening cooperation in protecting citizens in each country.
The Ambassador emphasized that he would actively participate in and support Vietnam in successfully organizing the Partnership for Green Growth and Global Goals 2030 (P4G) Summit in Vietnam in April 2025.
During the meeting with Canadian Ambassador Shawn Steil, President To Lam affirmed that Vietnam values its comprehensive partnership with Canada and will continue to cooperate with Canada in implementing the commitments of the two countries' high-level leaders to deepen Vietnam-Canada relations on a mutually beneficial basis, contributing to maintaining peace, stability, and development in the region and the world. Vietnam highly appreciates Canada's policy of valuing relations with the Asia-Pacific region and supporting ASEAN's role in regional cooperation mechanisms.
The President expressed gratitude for Canada's gestures of condolence on the passing of General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, especially Governor-General Mary Simon's letter of condolence sent to the President.
Ambassador Shawn Steil congratulated Vietnam on its economic and foreign policy development and achievements over the past years, and expressed his honor to witness the positive progress in Vietnam-Canada relations.
The Ambassador affirmed that Canada values its Comprehensive Partnership with Vietnam within Canada's strategy for the Indo-Pacific region, and committed to continuing efforts to coordinate with ministries, agencies, and localities of both countries to deepen the relationship; supporting ASEAN's central role in the regional structure and will continue to promote the ASEAN-Canada Strategic Partnership and cooperate with Vietnam in addressing regional and international issues of common concern.
Both sides reviewed the positive results achieved by the two countries since upgrading their relationship to a Comprehensive Partnership in 2017 across all areas, particularly in delegation exchanges, political and diplomatic relations, economic and trade cooperation, defense cooperation, and law enforcement. Ambassador Steil affirmed that Canada continues to be a leading development support provider for Vietnam, focusing on areas such as climate change response and green transition.
The President acknowledged and highly appreciated the efforts of both sides in organizing activities to commemorate the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations (1973 - 2023) and the 5th anniversary of the establishment of the Comprehensive Partnership (2017 - 2022).
To maintain the positive momentum in relations, the President suggested that both sides continue to coordinate in promoting high-level exchanges between the two countries; leverage existing cooperation mechanisms such as the Political Consultations at the Deputy Foreign Minister level, the Joint Committee on Economic and Trade Cooperation, as well as the favorable framework of the CPTPP Agreement for bilateral trade and investment relations.
The President highly appreciated the Ambassador's initiatives to promote cooperation in areas of mutual interest such as economy and trade, innovation, energy transition, human resource training, defense cooperation, combating transnational crime, and ensuring cybersecurity; and suggested that both sides promote cooperation in sports, especially football, as well as cultural and artistic programs, contributing to strengthening the friendship and understanding between the people of the two countries.
On this occasion, President To Lam, through Ambassador Shawn Steil, respectfully extended an invitation to the Governor General of Canada, Mary Simon, to pay an official visit to Vietnam at a suitable time.
Source: https://baotainguyenmoitruong.vn/chu-tich-nuoc-to-lam-tiep-dai-su-han-quoc-va-canada-377778.html
