Vietnam’s Party General Secretary and State President To Lam and his spouse, along with their entourage, will make their trips to the U.S. and Cuba from September 21 to 27, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

During the trip to the U.S., the Vietnamese leader will participate in the Summit of the Future hosted by the United Nations (UN) on September 22-23 and the 79th Session of the UN General Assembly, which begins on September 24. Lam will also have several working sessions during the visit.

Lam, his spouse, and accompanying officials will later pay a state visit to Cuba at the invitation of First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba and Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez and his wife, the foreign ministry said.

This will be the first multilateral working trip of Party General Secretary and State President Lam in his new positions, and will also mark his first-time visits to the U.S. and Cuba as the head of the Party and state.

That Lam is going to attend the coming Summit of the Future and the 79th session of the UN General Assembly demonstrates Vietnam's high respect for multilateral cooperation and the UN’s role in the current world context.

The Summit of the Future is considered a historic event, where many documents are expected to be adopted to create an important foundation and an orientation for cooperation within the UN in the coming time.

In a video message sent to the Global Call event in New York ahead of the Summit of the Future on September 12, Lam emphasized that the summit is an opportunity for the UN and multilateralism to affirm their irreplaceable values in the face of the great challenges of the current times.

He also hoped that the summit will bring new thinking and new ways of doing things for the future of the world.

The leader of the Party and state suggested that the coming event focus on discussing effective solutions for transformation in science, technology, and innovation; green transformation; and global governance transformation.

The trip to the U.S. will be conducted as the two countries have just celebrated the first anniversary of their comprehensive strategic partnership and are looking forward to welcoming 30 years of the normalization of relations in 2025.

Since the comprehensive strategic partnership was set up in September last year, the relationship between the two countries has relentlessly developed and their bilateral cooperation has been expanded in various fields, bringing benefits to both countries, especially in creative innovation and technology.

The U.S. is Vietnam's second-largest trading partner, with two-way trade reaching nearly US$111 billion last year, surpassing the $100-billion mark for the third consecutive year, according to the General Department of Vietnam Customs.

During his stay in the U.S., the Vietnamese leader will have meetings and contacts with U.S. politicians and businesses.

The U.S. trip will be followed by a visit to Cuba, reaffirming the strong traditional relationship between Vietnam and Cuba. This visit highlights Vietnam's ongoing commitment and dedication to its traditional friemds, according to the ministry.

The special friendship between Vietnam and Cuba, whose diplomatic ties were set up in 1960, has been deeply imprinted in the minds of the people of the two countries.

On April 1, 2020, the Vietnam - Cuba Trade Agreement officially took effect, with many new trade incentive commitments, bringing benefits to businesses of both countries and creating favorable conditions for bilateral import and export of goods.

Cuba imports up to 400,000 metric tons of rice from Vietnam each year and has received support from Vietnam in developing household-scale rice production, as well as corn, soybean production, and aquaculture.

Many Vietnamese companies are also advancing their investment projects in Cuba.

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