Politburo member, FM Le Hoai Trung highlights outcomes of General Secretary To Lam's state visit to Laos and Cambodia
WVR - Politburo Member, Minister of Foreign Affairs Le Hoai Trung gave an interview to the press on the outcomes of General Secretary To Lam's state visit to Laos and Cambodia.
Latest
 |
| Politburo Member, Minister of Foreign Affairs Le Hoai Trung discusses with the press the results of General Secretary To Lam's state visit to Laos and Cambodia. (Photo: VNA) |
General Secretary To Lam's state visit to Laos and Cambodia, co-chairing the High-Level Meeting between the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam and the Standing Committee of the Central Committee of the Cambodian People's Party, and co-chairing the Meeting of the Heads of the three Parties of Vietnam - Cambodia - Laos in Cambodia, was a resounding success. This was General Secretary Tô Lâm's first overseas mission following the 14th National Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam. Could you share the highlights of this mission?
Recently, General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam To Lam, along with a high-level delegation from the Party and State of Vietnam, conducted a State visit to Laos on February 5, followed by a State visit to Cambodia on February 6.
The visit took place at a particularly significant time, marking General Secretary To Lam's first overseas mission in his capacity as General Secretary of the 14th Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam. It clearly demonstrates Vietnam's commitment and priority in fostering and nurturing relationships with neighboring countries.
The visit also held special significance and historical stature, as the high-level delegation included Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính and National Assembly Chairman Tran Thanh Man, along with many senior leaders of the Party and State. This is a strong political message, reflecting the exceptional trust for the prosperous development of Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia, for peace, stability, prosperity, and common development in the region and the world.
Particularly for our brotherly country Laos, General Secretary Tô Lâm's State visit occurred just 10 days after the State visit of General Secretary and President of Laos Thongloun Sisoulith and his spouse to Vietnam in January 2026 to congratulate the success of the 14th Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam.
This was also the first visit by a foreign leader to Laos after the Lao People's Revolutionary Party successfully held its 12th National Congress. This strongly reaffirms the special solidarity, enduring bond between Vietnam and Laos, sending a powerful message of strategic attachment, political trust, and shared development aspirations of the two Parties and countries.
On this occasion, both Laos and Cambodia welcomed General Secretary Tô Lâm and the high-level delegation from our Party and State with the highest and most respectful protocol. The image of the people of both countries waving flags and flowers from the airport to the venues brought deeply moving feelings to each member of our delegation.
Leaders of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party and CPP, government leaders, parliamentary leaders, and many senior leaders of the Party and State of Laos and Cambodia directly participated in welcoming, seeing off, and actively engaging with the key leaders of our Party and State. Within 48 hours in both countries, General Secretary Tô Lâm and the Party and State leaders engaged in a packed schedule with nearly 40 diplomatic activities. The meetings and discussions were conducted in a frank, trustworthy, open, and sincere atmosphere, achieving many substantive results, in line with the objectives of the visits.
During this visit, a highlight activity in Laos was General Secretary To Lam announcing the results of the 14th National Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam to key Lao officials, with over 700 attendees in person, with online connections to localities, grassroots organizations, and live broadcast across Laos.
Through this, General Secretary To Lam shared the achievements made over 40 years of renewal and during the 5-year term of the 13th Congress of the Party in all fields from economy, society to Party building, national defense - security, foreign affairs; the directions of our Party and State approved at the 14th Congress to lead Vietnam into a new era, in which foreign policy continues to affirm the importance of the Vietnam - Laos relationship.
During the State visit to Cambodia, General Secretary To Lam and the high-level delegation of the Communist Party of Vietnam co-chaired a meeting with the Standing Committee of the Central Committee of the Cambodian People's Party (CPP). In Cambodia, General Secretary To Lam also co-chaired a high-level meeting of the three Parties with CPP Chairman Samdech Techo Hun Sen and General Secretary and President of Laos Thongloun Sisoulith. This activity affirmed the tradition of good cooperation between the three Parties, providing an important and solid foundation for the three Parties to enhance strategic exchanges, firmly consolidate political trust, and unify major cooperation directions in the future.
Could you specify the concrete outcomes achieved during General Secretary To Lam's state visit to Laos? How will the two countries implement these outcomes in the future?
Given the special timing mentioned above, General Secretary To Lam's State visit to Laos, along with the high-level Vietnamese delegation, was highly appreciated by the Party, State, and People of Laos for its profound political significance, clearly demonstrating Vietnam's special regard and top priority for the great friendship, special solidarity, and comprehensive cooperation between Vietnam and Laos.
During the visit, General Secretary To Lam had extensive exchanges with the highest leaders of the Lao Party and State. Based on high political trust and the special bond between the two Parties, States, and Peoples, the senior leaders of both sides reached many important strategic consensuses, opening up new, substantive, and more effective cooperation prospects, meeting the expectations of the two countries' peoples in the new development phase, specifically:
Firstly, both sides reaffirmed their strong political determination to preserve, nurture, and develop the Vietnam – Laos relationship, a priceless common asset of the two nations. Accordingly, the leaders of the two countries emphasized the importance of accompanying and effectively implementing the Resolution of the 14th Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam and the 12th Congress of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party. Vietnamese leaders affirmed their continued companionship, sharing, and support for Laos with a pure, loyal spirit, unwaveringly, especially in the new development era of both nations.
Secondly, the visit contributed to deepening and concretizing the "strategic linkage" recently established between the two countries in December 2025. On this occasion, the leaders of the two Parties and countries agreed on a common understanding and action orientation to immediately bring the "strategic linkage" into practice, promoting closer political vision and development interests between the two Parties and countries.
In this context, both sides agreed to enhance comprehensive linkage between development strategies, socio-economic policies, infrastructure planning, and development space, alongside promoting cooperation in education, training, and human resource development, with the principle of placing people at the center of the linkage process identified as a key factor, ensuring the long-term sustainability of the bilateral relationship.
On this occasion, Vietnam and Laos exchanged many cooperation documents in fields such as education, justice, and connectivity between localities. The Memorandum of Understanding between the Ministry of Education and Training of Vietnam and the Ministry of Education and Sports of Laos on establishing the Vietnam University in the Lao People's Democratic Republic is a strong testament to the urgent action spirit in implementing the "great friendship, special solidarity, comprehensive cooperation, strategic linkage" framework between Vietnam and Laos, which the two countries have embarked on just two months after this idea was conceived.
Thirdly, the two Leaders agreed to continue to firmly consolidate absolute strategic trust, enhancing close coordination in the rapidly and complexly evolving regional and international context. Both sides affirmed they would maintain regular exchange mechanisms, timely share viewpoints, consult policies, and coordinate in addressing issues of mutual concern, thereby firmly consolidating strategic trust and protecting the legitimate interests of each country.
Both sides also agreed to focus on the comprehensive and effective implementation of the agreements reached, in which political cooperation continues to play a guiding and leading role; defense and security cooperation is a crucial pillar ensuring peace and stability; economic cooperation is identified as a field requiring clear transformation and breakthrough, linked with infrastructure connectivity, trade, investment, and human resource development. At the same time, the two countries will continue to closely coordinate in regional cooperation mechanisms, especially ASEAN and the Mekong Subregion, thereby contributing positively to the peace, stability, and sustainable development of the region, while enhancing the position and common voice of the two countries on the international stage.
So, during the State visit to Cambodia, what results did General Secretary To Lam and the high-level Vietnamese delegation achieve?
The State visit to Cambodia by General Secretary To Lam achieved many concrete and substantive results. Besides the meeting between the Politburo of the Communist Party of Vietnam and the Standing Committee of the CPP, General Secretary To Lam had meetings with the highest leaders of Cambodia.
Cambodian leaders expressed high regard for the visit of the General Secretary, showing admiration and high appreciation for Vietnam's development achievements and Vietnam's historically significant decisions. The leaders of both sides shared many common viewpoints and understandings and agreed on principles and major directions for bilateral relations in a new development phase with a Joint Statement and many cooperation documents signed. The results of the visit can be summarized in five major points:
Firstly, the two Leaders affirmed the importance of mutual respect, support, and prioritization of Vietnam - Cambodia bilateral relations, sharing a common understanding of the importance of maintaining good neighborly relations, inseparable traditional friendship, and supporting each other for stable development amid complex regional and international changes. Both sides agreed to firmly consolidate political trust, considering it a core and overarching factor, guiding the entire bilateral relationship strategically.
Notably, both sides reached important common understandings, agreeing on major principles laying a solid foundation for managing and resolving differences, which include resolving differences through frank and constructive dialogue, sincere and goodwill cooperation, based on respecting each other's legitimate core interests, building on commonalities while minimizing and narrowing differences; enhancing information sharing, timely consultation on issues of mutual concern, especially those related to borders, communities, cooperation programs, and projects; maintaining consensus, consolidating trust, and maintaining stable, long-term bilateral relations.
This is an important development in understanding, providing a basis for both countries to control and resolve outstanding issues, preventing these issues from affecting bilateral relations; it serves as a foundation for consolidating political trust to develop the bilateral relations of the two Parties and countries more strongly and solidly.
Secondly, both sides affirmed their determination to enhance efficiency and create breakthroughs in economic cooperation, bringing tangible benefits to the people and businesses of both countries. Accordingly, both countries agreed to leverage complementary strengths to enhance bilateral and regional economic connectivity, especially in strategic infrastructure, supply chain connectivity, agriculture and agricultural processing, energy, and logistics, border economic cooperation, facilitating the flow of goods, services, and investment between the two economies.
The two Leaders also proposed many measures to continue improving the investment and business environment, aiming for strong growth in bilateral trade, targeting a goal of 20 billion USD. Notably, both sides also agreed to continue discussions on a joint study of a New Economic Mechanism to more closely link the two economies.
Thirdly, both sides agreed that defense and security remain a solid pillar in Vietnam - Cambodia relations, determined to maintain a peaceful, friendly, cooperative, and developing border; enhancing cooperation between the two armed forces, including capacity building; combating transnational crimes, especially online fraud and drug trafficking.
Both sides also resolved not to allow hostile forces to use the territory of one country to conduct activities against the other. At the same time, Vietnam and Cambodia will continue to closely coordinate and contribute effectively to regional cooperation, especially within the Mekong Subregion and ASEAN frameworks, contributing to building a united, resilient ASEAN Community, enhancing ASEAN's central role in addressing regional and international issues.
Fourthly, the leaders of the two countries affirmed their high determination to effectively implement cooperation agreements between the two Parties and countries, enhancing consultations between Party committees, considering practical implementation as an important measure of political determination and the level of trust between the two sides.
Accordingly, both sides proposed clear plans and roadmaps, renewing content and cooperation methods towards practical, flexible, and effective implementation of high-level agreements, especially promoting the role of regular political consultation and dialogue mechanisms, timely sharing information, coordinating positions, and appropriately addressing arising issues.
An important point is that the agreements reached between Vietnam and Cambodia during this visit not only hold significant political meaning for the two Parties and countries but also align with the agreements reached at the high-level meeting between the three Parties of Vietnam - Cambodia - Laos.
Accordingly, the high-level meeting of the three Parties agreed on many groundbreaking contents regarding cooperation orientation in the future, notably agreeing to form and develop connectivity between the three countries in economy, science and technology, transportation, energy, agriculture, high technology, and connectivity between the peoples of the three countries, especially connectivity among the youth to ensure that the younger generation continues to preserve and promote the close solidarity and immutable historical values between the three Parties and countries.
The high-level meeting of the three Parties, attended by the heads of government and parliament of the three countries, sent a strong message that the results achieved are a high consensus of the entire political system of the countries, affirming the importance of the relationship between the three Parties and countries as a priceless common asset.
Thus, the visit of General Secretary To Lam and the high-level delegation of the Party and State of Vietnam to Laos and Cambodia was a resounding success, demonstrating the high political determination of the leaders of the Party and State of Vietnam as well as the leaders of Laos and Cambodia in elevating the friendly and traditional neighborly relations to new heights, meeting the high development goals of each country in the new context, for the benefit of the peoples of the three countries, contributing positively to peace, stability, prosperity, and development in the region and the world.
Thank you, Politburo Member, Minister of Foreign Affairs Le Hoai Trung!
