Meeting Again After Six Months: Vietnam’s Top Leader To Lam to Make Official Visit to Japan

【Hanoi, Vietnam—Special Correspondent Kim Jun-seok】To Lam, general secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam and president of Vietnam, is scheduled to make an official visit to Japan from the 8th to the 11th, leading a high-level Vietnamese delegation and accompanied by his wife, Ngo Phuong Ly. The visit comes six months after Japanese Prime Minister TAKAICHI Sanae made an official visit to Vietnam for three days starting May 1.
According to local media on the 6th, Vietnamese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Pham Thu Hang announced the itinerary for the Japan visit by General Secretary To Lam and his wife, along with a high-level Vietnamese delegation, at a regular press conference in Hanoi the previous day.
“During the visit, General Secretary Lam is scheduled to meet Emperor Naruhito and hold a summit with Japanese Prime Minister TAKAICHI Sanae,” spokesperson Hang said. “He also plans to take part in key diplomatic engagements, including meetings with the speakers of Japan’s House of Councillors and House of Representatives, a policy speech to the Japanese Diet, and a visit to Kanagawa Prefecture.”
Vietnam’s Foreign Ministry said, “The purpose of this visit is to consolidate the comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries, further strengthen existing economic, investment and trade cooperation, and expand bilateral cooperation into future industries such as science and technology, innovation, digital transformation and green transition.” It added, “Vietnam expects this visit to provide strong impetus for the substantive and effective implementation of agreements and commitments made by the leaders of the two countries, contributing not only to their economic development but also to peace, cooperation and development in the region and the world.”
Vietnam and Japan established diplomatic relations in 1973 and elevated their ties to a comprehensive strategic partnership in 2023. Japan is currently Vietnam’s largest provider of official development assistance (ODA) and its largest labor cooperation partner. It is also a key economic partner, ranking third in investment and fourth in tourism and trade.
The cumulative value of trade between the two countries from January to August this year reached $33.7 billion, up 27% from the same period a year earlier (approximately 45.2018 trillion won). If this growth continues, the goal of reaching $60 billion in bilateral trade by 2030 is also expected to be achieved ahead of schedule (approximately 80.478 trillion won).
Alongside traditional areas of cooperation, positive progress is also being made in science and technology, innovation, digital transformation, green transition and renewable energy. The Vietnamese community in Japan has now grown to around 700,000, with the share of professionals and highly skilled workers steadily increasing; around 7,000 Vietnamese IT engineers are working there.
[email protected] Kim Jun-seok Reporter