The visit carries great significance, marking a historic milestone as the first official visit to Finland by a general secretary of the Communist Party of Viet Nam since the two countries established diplomatic relations more than half a century ago.
Viet Nam and Finland formally established diplomatic relations in 1973, laying the first bricks for a strong foundation of bilateral cooperation. Over the past 50 years, generations of leaders and people from both countries have nurtured, maintained, and strengthened their traditional friendship and multifaceted cooperation.
Despite the geographical distance, Finland was among the pioneering countries providing development assistance to Viet Nam while it was facing numerous difficulties during national defence and construction.
For years, Finland has offered non-refundable aid with no political conditions attached, amounting to around 340 million USD, with a focus on water resource management, poverty reduction, climate change adaptation, and forestry.
Projects such as the Finnish water supply system have become familiar to many Vietnamese people, standing as a vivid symbol of the time-honoured friendship between the two nations.
Since 2020, the two countries have successfully transitioned from a development cooperation model to one of mutually beneficial cooperation. Finland has identified Viet Nam as one of its priority partners in Southeast Asia.
For its part, Viet Nam attaches great importance to its traditional friendship and multifaceted cooperation with Finland. The two sides regularly exchange delegations at all levels, closely coordinate and support each other at multilateral forums, especially at the United Nations and within the ASEAN-European Union cooperation framework.
Building on political trust and warm friendship, Viet Nam and Finland continue to achieve positive outcomes in various fields of cooperation. In terms of economic cooperation, bilateral trade value reached 422 million USD in 2024, and 216 million USD in the first seven months of 2025. Finland currently has 37 investment projects in Viet Nam with total capital of 50.8 million USD, ranking 58th among the countries and territories investing in Viet Nam. Meanwhile, Viet Nam has 10 investment projects in Finland.
In addition, cooperation in education, science, and technology, and people-to-people exchange has been continuously expanded and deepened. Science and technology remain a promising field of cooperation, with numerous memoranda of understanding signed since 1995. The 2008 Framework Agreement on the Viet Nam-Finland Innovation Partnership Programme (IPP) laid an important foundation for comprehensive cooperation in science, technology, and innovation.
Regarding education and training, the two sides signed a memorandum of understanding on cooperation in 2017, along with 18 other memoranda between the two countries’ educational institutions. Based on these agreements, Vietnamese and Finnish universities have been effectively implementing joint programmes focusing on lecturer and student exchanges. At present, nearly 20 Vietnamese higher education institutions are actively cooperating with Finnish partners, while more than 2,500 Vietnamese students are currently studying in Finland in disciplines such as economics, information technology and tourism.
General Secretary To Lam’s official visit to Finland sends a strong message about Viet Nam’s foreign policy — one of loyalty and gratitude towards traditional friends who have actively supported the country in its cause of national construction, defence, and development, including Finland. The visit offers an opportunity for leaders of both countries to discuss in depth the orientations for the future development of bilateral relations.
Furthermore, this is also an occasion for the two sides to consolidate cooperation in traditional fields while creating breakthroughs in new areas such as the circular economy, information technology, telecommunications, high technology, the environment, and clean energy. These are sectors where Finland has strengths and Viet Nam has demand and priority for development, striving to keep pace with regional and global standards.
May General Secretary To Lam, his spouse, and the high-ranking Vietnamese delegation mark a successful official visit to Finland, contributing to strengthening political trust and creating fresh momentum for Viet Nam-Finland relations to rise to a new height that is more profound and comprehensive.
