Foreign Minister Le Hoai Trung highlights five key achievements and four important directions for Vietnam-UK relations
WVR - Foreign Minister Le Hoai Trung outlined five key achievements and four new directions for Vietnam-UK relations following the official visit of General Secretary To Lam and his spouse to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland from October 28-30, 2025.
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| UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer welcomes and holds talks with General Secretary To Lam on October 29 at 10 Downing Street. (Photo: Nguyen Hong) |
Foreign Minister, could you share the prominent outcomes and significance of General Secretary To Lam's recent visit to the UK?
As we know, General Secretary To Lam and his spouse, along with a high-ranking delegation from the Party and State of Vietnam, made an official visit to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (UK) from October 28 - 30, 2025, at the invitation of UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
The visit was one of Vietnam's significant diplomatic activities in 2025, reaffirming the stature of Vietnam-UK relations within the broader foreign policy framework of each country, especially amid the current volatile and challenging global landscape.
During the visit, General Secretary To Lam and the Vietnamese delegation engaged in over 20 important activities, notably talks with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, meetings and receptions hosted by UK Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy, and meetings with representatives from the British Royal Family, the House of Lords, the House of Commons, and major political parties in the UK.
The General Secretary also delivered a key policy speech at the University of Oxford, met with business representatives, leading corporations in the UK, experts, and scholars in science and technology, and met with the Vietnamese community and the Vietnamese Embassy in the UK. The delegation also paid respects at the grave of Karl Marx, the leader of the global proletariat, acknowledging the philosopher's significant impact on progressive human thought.
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| General Secretary To Lam delivering a policy speech at the University of Oxford. (Photo: Nguyen Hong) |
The UK coordinated closely with us to organize the activities of the General Secretary and his spouse, along with the high-ranking Vietnamese delegation, in a spirit of respect and hospitality, with exceptional protocol arrangements.
The visit was a great success, with many important activities achieving effective and substantial results.
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| Foreign Minister Le Hoai Trung. (Photo: Nguyen Hong) |
First and foremost, a standout highlight of the visit was the agreement between Vietnam and the UK to establish a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, the highest level of relations in Vietnam's partnership frameworks.
In the Joint Declaration on establishing the new level of relations, as well as in discussions, General Secretary To Lam and UK leaders agreed on strategic measures, identifying six pillars of cooperation corresponding to the new level of bilateral relations: Enhancing political, diplomatic, defense, and security cooperation; Strengthening economic, trade, investment, and financial cooperation; Boosting cooperation in science and technology, innovation, digital transformation, and healthcare; Collaborating on environment, energy, and green transition; Enhancing cooperation in education, culture, sports, tourism, people-to-people exchanges, and equal rights; and Cooperation on international and regional issues.
Secondly, during the visit, agencies, organizations, and businesses from both sides agreed and signed many important cooperation agreements, with substantial and specific content in many new fields significant for the development of both countries, especially regarding collaboration between large enterprises, educational institutions, and major cities of each side.
The UK is one of the world's major financial centers and a leader in science and technology, thus the new cooperation framework has opened opportunities for both sides. Some Vietnamese enterprises and research institutions have begun collaborative research with UK universities and organizations, particularly in high-tech and education-training fields.
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| General Secretary To Lam and his spouse meet with the Duke of Richmond Charles Henry Gordon-Lennox, representative of the British Royal Family. |
Thirdly, in discussions, UK leaders and partners expressed their impression of Vietnam's significant achievements across all areas, showing appreciation for Vietnam's position and role in the Asia-Pacific region and on various issues of international concern.
The policy speech at the University of Oxford by General Secretary To Lam attracted special attention and high regard from UK policy researchers, seen as a significant contribution to clarifying Vietnam's independent, self-reliant, peaceful, cooperative, and developmental foreign policy. This helped the UK and the international community better understand Vietnam's 40 years of renovation achievements and our foreign policy.
Moreover, it is also important that UK partners expressed readiness to soon implement the contents agreed upon in the Joint Statement on upgrading Vietnam-UK relations to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, such as sharing information, experience, knowledge, and expertise in diverse fields, from finance, science and technology, innovation, to healthcare, green finance, clean energy, and disaster risk reduction.
Specifically, this includes establishing new dialogue mechanisms to improve the business environment between the two countries, facilitating the effective implementation and review of the UK-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (UKVFTA) as well as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).
Fourthly, the visit also contributed to enhancing Vietnam's position in Europe and at European multilateral forums and mechanisms, while positively contributing to promoting ASEAN's role and ASEAN-Europe relations. This further consolidated our Party and country's position on the international stage, laying the foundation for strengthening relations with partners in the future.
Fifthly, the visit also helped foster the bond between the Vietnamese and British people, as well as the solidarity and attachment of Vietnamese people in the UK, encouraging the community to make increasingly practical contributions to the development and advancement of the country, especially as more Vietnamese achieve significant successes in various fields in the UK, creating a broader foundation for connections between the two countries.
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| General Secretary To Lam meets with UK House of Commons Speaker Lindsay Hoyle. |
With these significant outcomes, the visit holds great significance not only for promoting our relations with a major European and global country but also for creating new conditions and momentum to leverage favorable conditions for the country's new development phase.
By establishing comprehensive strategic partnerships with the UK, a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, the world's sixth-largest economy, and one of the world's major centers for economy, finance, trade, science and technology, and education and training, Vietnam continues to actively and proactively implement its independent, self-reliant foreign policy for peace, cooperation, development, multilateralization, and diversification of relations.
The visit conveyed a consistent message about our foreign policy of multilateralization and diversification of external relations, promoting harmonious relations with partners in different regions. The exchanges and agreements with the UK also reflect their appreciation for our Party's leadership and our achievements in nearly 40 years of development and renovation.
In the context of complex international developments, having a comprehensive strategic partnership framework with all five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, bringing our total number of comprehensive strategic partnerships to 14, contributes to consolidating a favorable foreign affairs landscape for the country and elevating the Party's position. Vietnam-UK relations have entered a new chapter with higher political trust, creating a foundation for long-term strategic cooperation in all fields.
The rich content of the Joint Declaration and the diverse agreements reached during the visit with a partner of significant potential in economy, science and technology, defense, and security like the UK also open up very meaningful opportunities to implement major, important Party policies and directives from General Secretary To Lam, especially key resolutions, with specific conditions to achieve progress, contributing to the realization of the country's strategic goals in the coming period. The agreements achieved by our agencies, organizations, and corporations with the UK also demonstrate new levels of capability and potential in participating in new, important fields of international cooperation.
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| General Secretary To Lam meets with UK House of Lords Speaker John Mcfall. (Source: VNA) |
In the future, Foreign Minister, could you outline the major directions for implementing the important results achieved through General Secretary To Lam's recent visit to the UK?
It can be said that the extremely positive outcomes achieved during General Secretary's official visit to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland have elevated bilateral relations to a new, more comprehensive, and robust level. This is a clear affirmation that each side is not just a trade partner, an educational partner, or a science and technology partner, but a long-term strategic partner to jointly shape cooperation norms in the new era.
In the future, based on coordinated efforts between ministries, departments, and localities, Vietnam will work with the UK to effectively implement the results of the visit, especially the Joint Statement on establishing a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, promoting the development of a Joint Action Plan to concretize the Joint Statement; while continuing to effectively implement previously reached agreements. This process focuses on the following priorities:
Firstly, focus on enhancing political trust between the two countries through high-level and other exchanges, corresponding to the new stature of the relationship. Promote the effective implementation of existing cooperation mechanisms and agreements and new cooperation mechanisms in line with potential and actual needs. The important issue is not just signing agreements, but effectively implementing them, demonstrating Vietnam's commitment, and making the most of the opportunities and favorable conditions these agreements bring.
To achieve this, each ministry, sector, locality, and enterprise needs to review and supervise the implementation of cooperation mechanisms and signed agreements to truly maximize their effectiveness, serving the best development goals of each side in the new period.
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| General Secretary To Lam attends the Vietnam-UK high-level economic conference. (Photo: Nguyen Hong) |
Secondly, focus on promoting proposals and initiatives in cooperation between the UK's strengths in developing international financial centers, innovation, telecommunications, sustainable energy transition, high technology, biomedicine... with Vietnam's needs for digital transformation, green transition, improving human resource quality, and innovation in development governance. As General Secretary To Lam stated at the University of Oxford, this "co-creation of the future" cooperation will be "a living resource, a network of knowledge and technology spanning from Hanoi to London".
Thirdly, strengthen connectivity, closely coordinate and enhance roles in international and regional forums such as the United Nations, ASEAN; promote trade relations based on rules and equality; and boost cooperation in science and technology fields, protecting financial systems to contribute to peace, stability, and development in regions and globally.
Fourthly, implement measures to enhance the effectiveness of important work in other fields such as cultural exchanges, the Vietnamese community in the UK, thereby further promoting the role of these fields in fostering friendship, understanding, and a deepening, enduring foundation of cooperation between Vietnam and the UK.
Although the international and regional situation may continue to evolve complexly, presenting many challenges, Vietnam has new favorable conditions that need to be effectively utilized. Leveraging international agreements and new cooperation frameworks in key fields will help Vietnam supplement important resources for the country's development process in the new era.
