Vietnam’s Party General Secretary and State President To Lam, accompanied by his spouse and an entourage, arrived in the U.S. late on Saturday afternoon (local time) to attend the United Nations Summit of the Future and the 79th session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA 79), and engage in other working sessions in the North American country.

Welcoming the top Vietnamese leader and his wife at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York were Vietnamese Ambassador to the U.S. Nguyen Quoc Dung and his wife, Ambassador Dang Hoang Giang, permanent representative of Vietnam to the UN, and other officials.

Lam’s participation in the two UN events holds great significance, spotlighting Vietnam's ongoing contributions to the world’s largest multilateral organization and its active role in tackling regional and global challenges, according to the Vietnam News Agency.

The Vietnamese leader has been scheduled to attend the two-day Summit of the Future on September 22-23, themed ‘Multilateral Solutions for a Better Future,’ and the UNGA 79, centered on ‘Leaving No One Behind: Acting Together for the Advancement of Peace, Sustainable Development and Human Dignity for Present and Future Generations,’ which lasts from Tuesday through Saturday next week.

The two events focus on boosting international cooperation and reinforcing multilateralism, with the United Nations playing a key role in advancing shared objectives, particularly the Sustainable Development Goals.

During the events, the Vietnamese Party and state leader will deliver to participants a major message of ‘strengthening multilateralism and collaborating to create a peaceful, stable, prosperous, and sustainable future for all people worldwide.’

This is the first multilateral diplomatic engagement by Party General Secretary and State President To Lam at the UN, a global forum, where he will re-affirm Vietnam’s policy of independence, self-reliance, multilateralization, and diversification of foreign relations, said Ambassador Giang. 

He will also reiterate that Vietnam is a friend, a reliable partner, and a responsible member of the international community, and that the Southeast Asian country consistently contributes to peace, friendship, cooperation, and development in the region and the world. 

Lam’s working trip is taking place as Vietnam and the U.S. are celebrating the one-year anniversary of their comprehensive strategic partnership and looking forward to welcoming 30 years of the normalization of diplomatic relations in 2025, Ambassador Dung commented.

“Given that the U.S. is preparing for the presidential election due in November and the following leadership transition, the outcomes of this trip will help maintain and consolidate the momentum of progress in the Vietnam-U.S. relationship in the coming years,” Dung stated. 

In addition to the two UN events, the Vietnamese leader will have a series of meetings and contacts with U.S. leaders, business representatives and scholars, as well as representatives of the Vietnamese communities in the U.S..

Lam is set to preside over a significant event commemorating the 30th anniversary of diplomatic relations and the first anniversary of the comprehensive strategic partnership between the two nations.

He will also deliver an important policy speech at Columbia University, one of the oldest and most prestigious universities in the U.S..

Along with Lam’s activities, many other members of the Vietnamese delegation will also conduct bilateral activities with their American partners.

Vietnam and the U.S. normalized their diplomatic relations in July 1995 and entered a comprehensive partnership in July 2013.

Over ten years later, the two sides lifted their ties directly to a comprehensive strategic partnership on September 10, 2023, skipping the strategic partnership level, during U.S. President Joe Biden’s official visit to Vietnam.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on X to get the latest news about Vietnam!