Of particular significance, this is General Secretary and State President To Lam’s first visit to the EU and Belgium since the successful 14th National Party Congress and the consolidation of leadership positions following elections to the 16th National Assembly and People’s Councils at all levels for the 2026–2031 term.
The visit strongly reaffirms Viet Nam’s determination to strengthen its Comprehensive Strategic Partnership with the EU and elevate relations with Belgium to a new level. It demonstrates the importance of these relationships to Viet Nam’s efforts to realise its development vision and goals in a new era.
Against the backdrop of rapid, profound and epoch-making changes in the world, Viet Nam’s efforts to fully leverage head-of-state diplomacy to mobilise and harness resources for national development are particularly important, helping strengthen the country’s capacity to respond to challenges. The visit will further consolidate ties between General Secretary and State President To Lam and leaders of the EU and Belgium.
The invitations extended by the European Council President and the Belgian Prime Minister to the top Vietnamese leader and his spouse are a vivid testament to the importance they attach to Viet Nam’s standing and development potential, as well as to the Vietnamese leader himself and the promotion of relations with Viet Nam.
The EU is an important partner in Viet Nam’s foreign policy and international integration. The two sides officially upgraded their relations to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in January 2026, marking a milestone that opened a new chapter in bilateral ties. This upgrade is significant, making Viet Nam the first partner in Southeast Asia to establish a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership with the EU and the only ASEAN member state to have cooperation across all pillars with the bloc. The EU regards Viet Nam as a priority partner in Southeast Asia and the Indo-Pacific, actively strengthening ties with the country at both EU-wide and member-state levels.
Over more than 35 years of steadily nurturing their friendship, the two sides have made substantial progress in cooperation, achieving numerous results that bring tangible benefits to their peoples. They maintain exchanges of delegations and high-level contacts, while holding annual meetings of the Viet Nam-EU Joint Committee and its subcommittees.
The EU-Viet Nam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) has been a bright spot in bilateral trade relations, delivering substantial benefits to both economies. After several years of implementing the EVFTA, Viet Nam has become the EU’s largest trading partner in ASEAN, while the EU is Viet Nam’s fourth-largest trading partner and sixth-largest investor. Science and technology, along with innovation, are now emerging as new pillars of cooperation between Viet Nam and many EU member states.
Meanwhile, geographical distance has not prevented Viet Nam and Belgium from maintaining close and enduring ties over the past half-century. The two countries established diplomatic relations in 1973 and a Strategic Partnership in Agriculture in 2018. They maintain high-level visits and contacts at multilateral forums. Belgium’s Chamber of Representatives was the first and remains the only foreign parliament to adopt a resolution calling for support for Vietnamese victims of Agent Orange. Belgium is Viet Nam’s sixth-largest trading partner within the EU, while Viet Nam is Belgium’s largest trading partner in ASEAN.
In education and training, since 2003, the Belgian Government has awarded an average of 40 postgraduate scholarships to Vietnamese students each year in fields including port engineering, environmental studies and tourism. Both sides are determined to achieve breakthroughs in cooperation in areas where Belgium has strengths, such as science and technology, renewable energy, artificial intelligence and green agriculture, and to make Viet Nam a hub for cooperation, production and distribution of Belgian products in Southeast Asia.
The official visits to the EU and the Kingdom of Belgium by General Secretary and State President To Lam, his spouse and the high-ranking Vietnamese delegation represent an active implementation of the country’s foreign policy as set out in the Resolution of the 14th National Party Congress and Politburo resolutions.
Through meetings with Vietnamese communities in the countries visited, General Secretary and State President To Lam’s trip also conveys a strong message that the Party and State consistently care for overseas Vietnamese and create favourable conditions for them, including those in the EU and Belgium, to develop, integrate into their host societies and contribute resources to national development strategies in the new era.
The official visits to the EU and the Kingdom of Belgium by General Secretary and State President To Lam, his spouse and the high-ranking Vietnamese delegation represent an active implementation of the country’s foreign policy as set out in the Resolution of the 14th National Party Congress and Politburo resolutions.
This important milestone opens up bright new prospects for Viet Nam’s relations with the EU and Belgium, creating opportunities to deepen ties comprehensively, bring bilateral cooperation to a turning point and make it more effective and substantive, while establishing new strategic directions for cooperation.
Viet Nam is working to make its relationship with the EU a model for ASEAN-EU cooperation and to elevate ties with Belgium to a new level, nearly a decade after the establishment of their Strategic Partnership in Agriculture. The international community is also seeing the image of a Viet Nam undergoing dynamic transformation, confidently and enthusiastically entering a new era of development, upholding the spirit of cooperation and actively contributing to peace, stability and development worldwide.
