Vietnamese Party General Secretary and State President To Lam flew from Hanoi on Monday for a week-long overseas trip, wth his itinerary including Mongolia, Ireland, and France.

Lam makes these visits at the invitation of Mongolian President Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh, Irish President Michael D. Higgins, and French President Emmanuel Macron, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The top Vietnamese leader is accompanied by Chairman of the Presidential Office Le Khanh Hai, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son, Head of the Party Central Committee’s External Relations Commission Le Hoai Trung, Chairwoman of the National Assembly’s Social Affairs Committee Nguyen Thuy Anh, and the Ministers of National Defense, Justice, Health, Transport, and Agriculture and Rural Development.

Lam’s assistant and the ambassadors of Mongolia, Ireland, and France are included.

The foreign ministry commented that this week-long trip comes amid the fruitful development of Vietnam's relations with all three countries, and once again affirms Vietnam’s foreign policy of independence, self-reliance, multilateralism, diversification of relations, and proactive international integration.

The Vietnamese Party and state believe this itinerary reflects the priority of continuing friendship with Mongolia, the multi-faceted cooperation with Ireland, and the strategic partnership with France for mutual interests.

The state visit to Mongolia holds special significance as it falls on the 70th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Ulaanbaatar and Hanoi, which have never been stronger.

Mongolia is a country that extensively supported Vietnam both materially and spiritually in the Southeast Asian nation’s movement for national independence and liberation in the past.

During his stay in Mongolia, Party General Secretary and State President Lam will meet with the country's top leaders to enhance political trust and beef up cooperation in the areas of each other’s priorities, especially politics, diplomacy, economics, trade, tourism, and people-to-people exchanges, said Deputy PM Bui Thanh Son.

Meanwhile, Lam’s trip to Ireland marks the first state visit since the two nations established diplomatic relations in 1966.

Due to the many similarities in history, patriotic traditions, aspirations for progress, and unique culture, Ireland and Vietnam have ample room to enhance their multifaceted cooperation.

During Lam's visit, the two sides' senior leaders will discuss measures to promote extensive cooperation in many areas where Vietnam has demand and Ireland has strengths, such as high-quality investment, science, technology, innovation, digital transformation, energy transition, and education and training.

Ireland is currently Vietnam's sixth-largest trading partner in the EU market and prioritizes Vietnam as one of the two Asian countries that receive Dublin’s development assistance, which focuses on education, gender equality, climate change response, wartime mine clearance, and support for ethnic minority communities and people with disabilities.

For Lam's time in France, besides attending the 19th Francophone Summit, he will discuss the countries' steps to bring their partnership to a new level, commensurate with the potential and position of both sides in the region and the world.

France and Vietnam have maintained strong political trust and cooperation over 50 years of diplomatic relations, including a decade of strategic partnership.

As one of Hanoi’s key European partners in tourism, trade, investment, and official development assistance (ODA), France has contributed to several major projects in Vietnam, such as the Nhon-Hanoi Station metro line and climate change response initiatives in the Mekong Delta.

The official also highlighted the fruitful cooperation between Vietnam and the Francophone community, which considers Vietnam a model of socio-economic development and a center of Francophone cooperation activities in the region.

The Francophone bloc, consisting of 88 member countries and territories with a combined population of around 1.2 billion people, accounts for 16 percent of global GDP and 20 percent of world trade.

This presents significant opportunities for expanding cooperation with Vietnam, especially in areas such as trade, investment, education and training, agriculture, tourism, and science and technology.

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