State President leaves for official visit to Thailand

President Nguyen Xuan Phuc and his spouse left Ha Noi on Wednesday for an official visit to Thailand and attendance in the 29th Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Economic Leaders’ Meeting.

The visit is made at the invitation of Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha.

The Vietnamese Head of State is accompanied by Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son, Minister of Justice Le Thanh Long, Chairman of the State President Office Le Khanh Hai, Deputy Minister of National Defense Hoang Xuan Chien, Deputy Minister of Public Security Le Quoc Hung, Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Tran Quoc Phuong, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Quoc Khanh, Deputy Minister of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs Nguyen Van Hoi, Vietnamese Ambassador to Thailand Phan Chi Thanh and Chairman of the Viet Nam Chamber of Industry and Trade Pham Tan Cong.

President Phuc is the first foreign leader to pay an official visit to Thailand ahead of the 29th APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting.

The trip also takes place on the threshold of the 10th anniversary of the Viet Nam - Thailand strategic partnership in 2023.

This is an occasion for Vietnamese and Thai leaders to discuss major orientations for further promoting economic, trade, and investment links; expanding cooperation to new and potential areas like digital economy, digital transformation, and green economy; and stepping up cooperation in culture, education, sports, people-to-people exchange, and locality-to-locality ties.

Over the past years, especially amid the pandemic, the enhanced strategic partnership has been constantly developing.

Thailand attaches importance to and wishes to continuously consolidate and step up its fine cooperation and friendship with Viet Nam.

In 2021 – the year marking the 45th anniversary of the bilateral diplomatic ties (August 6, 1976), the two countries coordinated in organizing a range of meaningful activities in politics, economy and culture, while stepping up the communication work to raise public awareness of the relationship.

The two sides also maintained high-level activities and cooperation mechanisms between the Governments as well as ministries and agencies.

Thailand has remained Viet Nam’s biggest trade partner in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), with two-way trade hitting a record US$18.8 billion last year, up 18 percent year-on-year.

In the first nine months of this year, the figure stood at US$ 16.1 billion, a rise of 17.2 percent from the same period last year, of which Viet Nam exported US$5.6 billion worth of goods to Thailand, up 26.9 percent.