Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Le Thi Thu Hang has spotlighted the significance of the state visit to Denmark and official visits to the European Union (EU) and Belgium from October 19-24 by General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee and President To Lam, his spouse and a high-ranking Vietnamese delegation.
It will be the first state visit to Denmark by a Vietnamese Party General Secretary and the first official visits to the EU and Belgium by General Secretary and President To Lam. The trip comes after the successful 14th National Party Congress and 16th National Assembly (NA) election, Hang said.
According to her, the trip sends a strong message about Vietnam’s foreign policy in its new phase of development. It is expected to help strengthen political trust and expand cooperation in trade, investment, science and technology, innovation, green growth and sustainable development. It also offers an opportunity for Vietnam to elevate its relations with Denmark, the EU and Belgium across the board, marking a turning point towards more substantive and effective cooperation, underpinned by strong political commitment and shared strategic orientations.
The Denmark leg coincides with the 55th anniversary of diplomatic ties this year. The two sides have moved from Strategic Partnership frameworks on climate change, energy, environment and green growth to a Comprehensive Partnership and a Green Strategic Partnership, building a solid base for broader cooperation. The visit gives both sides a chance to set strategic directions and upgrade ties, and promote bilateral relations as a model partnership between Vietnam and a Nordic country.
Vietnam and the EU upgraded ties to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in January, and the visit reinforces Vietnam’s role as ASEAN’s bridgehead in cooperation with the bloc. Building on more than 35 years of ties, both sides will look to deepen core pillars, including trade, investment, science-technology, and workforce training, with the goal of making the relationship a model within the ASEAN-EU framework.
The Belgium stop follows King Philippe’s state visit to Vietnam in April 2025. Ties, now more than 50 years old and anchored for eight years by a Strategic Partnership in agriculture, rest on a high level of political trust. The two sides aim to make progress in areas where Belgium has strengths and Vietnam focuses on, including science-technology, semiconductors, renewable energy, green agriculture and innovation, logistics and smart seaports.
Hang said relations with all three partners are becoming more substantive and effective. Denmark, the EU and Belgium are key partners in Vietnam’s foreign policy and global integration, and cooperation has widened from traditional areas into strategic fields, spanning politics-diplomacy, trade and investment, national defence-security, science-technology, and innovation.
Denmark was among the first Western countries to establish diplomatic ties with Vietnam, and a strong people's movement there backed Vietnam’s fight for independence and reunification. Ties have since shifted from development aid to equal, mutually beneficial coordination. Denmark is now one of the EU’s biggest investors in Vietnam and stands out among Nordic countries for the quality of its investment and its focus on green growth, with major Danish companies running projects in seaports, maritime transport, logistics and green industries.
More than 35 years after establishing ties, Vietnam and the EU cooperate across a broad range of fields. The upgrade to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership during European Council President António Costa’s visit in January 2026 made Vietnam the first ASEAN country to reach the EU’s highest-level framework of relations, reflecting deep political trust and a shared strategic vision in the new development phase. Economic cooperation is the bright spot as six years after the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) took effect, the EU is Vietnam’s fourth largest trade partner and sixth largest investor, while Vietnam is the EU’s biggest trade partner in ASEAN. Cooperation in science-technology, innovation, green transition, digital transformation and marine economy is also expanding steadily, adding momentum.
Vietnam-Belgium ties have progressed as well, with political trust growing and cooperation yielding results in the economy, trade, investment, agriculture, education, and science-technology, particularly under the 2018 Strategic Partnership in agriculture. Hang noted that Belgium’s House of Representatives was the first, and so far the only foreign parliament to adopt a resolution urging support for Vietnamese victims of Agent Orange, a gesture she said reflects Belgium’s friendship, humanitarian spirit and solidarity in helping Vietnam deal with the aftermath of war. With complementary strengths, the two countries have considerable room to take cooperation further.
European partners bring strengths in technology, governance expertise and sustainable development solutions, while Vietnam is overhauling its growth model and working to raise productivity and competitiveness, she said.
She expressed hope that General Secretary and President Lam’s trip will produce a strategic shift, reinforce political trust at the highest level and lift bilateral cooperation to a higher, more substantive level. It is expected to open new opportunities to strengthen the development capacity and strategic autonomy of Vietnam and its partners, delivering tangible benefits to citizens and businesses and contributing to peace, cooperation and sustainable development in both regions and globally./.
