On September 20, General Secretary of the Communist Party of Viet Nam Central Committee and President To Lam, together with a high-ranking Vietnamese delegation, departed to attend the High-Level General Debate of the 81st United Nations General Assembly (UNGA 81) and a series of bilateral engagements in the US.

This marks General Secretary and President To Lam’s first working trip to the United Nations and the US since Viet Nam successfully convened the 14th National Party Congress, the election of deputies to the 16th National Assembly, and People’s Councils at all levels for the 2026–2031 term.

Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Dang Hoang Giang affirmed that General Secretary and President To Lam’s participation and important address at the High-Level General Debate of the 81st United Nations General Assembly are of great significance, particularly as Viet Nam and the UN jointly look towards commemorating the 50th anniversary of their relationship. This also underscores Viet Nam’s strong support and commitment to the central role of the United Nations in multilateral cooperation, and to advancing respect for international law.

Meanwhile, General Secretary and President To Lam’s working trip and bilateral activities in the US will help implement the shared understandings reached by senior leaders of Viet Nam and the US, while continuing to foster stable, substantive, effective, and sustainable development of their Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.

Viet Nam’s imprint at the United Nations

Viet Nam became an official member of the United Nations in 1977. After national reunification, United Nations agencies actively supported Viet Nam in overcoming the consequences of war, recovery and reconstruction, improving people’s living standards and gradually integrating internationally. Viet Nam’s increasingly active and proactive participation in the United Nations has helped the country deepen its foreign relations at both multilateral and bilateral levels; strengthen access to global knowledge, standards and resources in support of renewal and sustainable development, as well as the implementation of strategic priorities between now and 2030; create a multilateral space to safeguard and promote national interests by peaceful means; and support the strengthening of the country’s institutional and governance capacity.

Since becoming an official member of the United Nations, Viet Nam has undergone a proud journey marked by significant achievements. The country has participated increasingly deeply and extensively, and made substantive contributions to the organisation’s common work, as reflected in its effective assumption of many important responsibilities and positions; introduction of several breakthrough initiatives; leadership in implementing United Nations development goals, including the Deliver as One initiative; active participation in peacekeeping, human rights protection, humanitarian relief, sustainable development and responses to global challenges; and gradual deeper engagement in shaping United Nations rules, norms and agenda. These contributions have helped enhance Viet Nam’s position, prestige and image as a trusted and responsible partner of the international community.

Looking back on the past journey, we can proudly affirm that relations between Viet Nam and the United Nations are now in a very positive and substantive stage of development. From the years of struggle for independence, Viet Nam today has risen to become a particularly trusted partner, making proactive, responsible and breakthrough contributions across the core pillars of the United Nations.

Viet Nam has actively participated in and assumed many roles and positions at United Nations bodies and forums. In October 2025, Viet Nam hosted the opening for signature of the United Nations Convention against Cybercrime. The country has deployed nearly 1,400 officers and soldiers to United Nations peacekeeping missions in South Sudan, the Central African Republic and Abyei.

Viet Nam currently ranks 49th out of 193 countries for regular contributions to the UN budget, and contributes millions of US dollars to humanitarian relief activities carried out by UN agencies.

With its new position and strength, Viet Nam also wishes to make increasingly proactive and substantive contributions to the common work of the United Nations. We not only seek to make the most of opportunities from international cooperation, but are also ready to share and contribute to the common responsibilities, so that all people and all nations can benefit from the fruits of peace, cooperation and development. This is the image of Viet Nam that we wish to continue affirming at the United Nations: an independent and self-reliant country that cherishes peace, confidently entering a new period of development, open to the world and ready to join and contribute to the common efforts of the international community.

Viet Nam has put forward many important UN initiatives, including Security Council resolutions on the role of women in post-conflict contexts and the protection of essential infrastructure for civilians in conflicts; UN General Assembly resolutions on the International Day of Epidemic Preparedness on December 27, the International Day of Play on June 11 and the International Decade of Culture for Sustainable Development 2027-2036; and the initiative to establish the Group of Friends of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

Viet Nam has made strong commitments to and actively participated in implementing major UN development agendas, particularly the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Agreement on climate change.

Currently, 15 UN agencies have resident representatives in Viet Nam. UN organisations have actively supported resource mobilisation, provided policy advice, shared knowledge and experience, and supported capacity building, achieving notable results in areas such as education, poverty reduction, green growth, labour, healthcare, social protection and digital transformation.

Viet Nam is one of eight pilot countries worldwide to implement the Delivering as One initiative – One UN. Overall, the initiative has contributed to improving operational efficiency and strengthening the cohesion of UN organisations in Viet Nam.

As Viet Nam and the UN approach the 50th anniversary of their relations (1977-2027), the two sides will reflect on five decades of partnership and cooperation, while identifying new directions to bring bilateral cooperation into a deeper phase of development. 

Consolidating political trust and bringing Viet Nam-US relations to ever greater strength

Since the normalisation of diplomatic relations in July 1995, Viet Nam-US relations have developed across numerous fields. In July 2013, the two countries agreed to establish the framework of a comprehensive partnership and upgraded their relations to a comprehensive strategic partnership for peace, cooperation and sustainable development in September 2023.

High-level exchanges between the two countries have continued to be promoted. During these exchanges, the US side has consistently affirmed its commitment to supporting a “strong, independent, resilient and prosperous” Viet Nam; continued to highly value Viet Nam’s role and attach importance to Viet Nam-US relations; and expressed its wish to continue promoting the development of bilateral relations on the basis of respect for each other’s independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity and political systems.

The achievements attained between Viet Nam and the United States over the past more than three decades have been comprehensive and substantive. The two countries have built an increasingly solid foundation for cooperation on the basis of respect for the Charter of the United Nations, international law, and each other’s independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity and political systems. At the same time, the scale and scope of cooperation between the two countries have continued to expand across numerous strategic areas.

In terms of economic, trade and investment relations, in the first seven months of 2026, two-way trade reached 118 billion USD. The United States remains Viet Nam’s largest export market, while Viet Nam is the United States’ eighth-largest trading partner and its largest trading partner in the ASEAN region.

Security and defence cooperation has made positive progress in recent times. Addressing the consequences of war continues to be a priority. Activities to search for US servicemen missing in action (MIA), search for Vietnamese fallen soldiers, deal with dioxin contamination, clear bombs and mines, and support people with disabilities have continued to be intensified. In terms of security, the two sides have expressed their appreciation for the development of cooperation in security and law enforcement, including cooperation in combating transnational crime.

Education cooperation has made many positive advances in recent times, particularly in human resource training for the semiconductor industry. At present, Viet Nam has a number of US-invested educational institutions in the country, including six general education institutions and Fulbright University Viet Nam in Ho Chi Minh City. The US side has actively supported Viet Nam in making English a second language in schools through educational and training cooperation programmes, such as the English Language Teaching programme of the Peace Programme.

The Comprehensive Strategic Partnership framework has identified the pillars of comprehensive cooperation between the two countries, including politics, diplomacy, security and defence, as well as the economy, trade, investment, science and technology, education and training. In the coming time, these will remain the main areas of cooperation between the two countries. However, in my view, greater focus will be placed on areas that Viet Nam has identified as priorities for its new phase of development, as well as areas in which the US has strengths and a demand for cooperation to achieve sustainable development together. These include advanced technology, clean energy, and highly resilient supply chains.

Several projects in areas such as promoting the green transition, renewable energy and climate change response of US businesses remain high priorities and are being actively promoted by the US in bilateral relations.

The two countries will also continue to strongly promote people-to-people exchanges and local-level cooperation. Many localities and cities in the two countries have signed Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) on cooperation, including twinning arrangements, over the years. Vietnamese local leadership delegations continue to visit localities of the US annually to promote their localities. Conversely, the US also sends many local leadership delegations to visit Viet Nam.

Regarding regional and international cooperation, the two countries will continue to coordinate closely on international and regional issues of shared concern, particularly within the framework of the United Nations Security Council and ASEAN mechanisms. The US continues to affirm its support for ASEAN's centrality and solidarity, as well as the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific (AOIP). It also highly values Viet Nam's position and role in ASEAN and in the Asia-Pacific region, as well as at international forums such as the United Nations and in addressing common global challenges.

The Vietnamese community in the US is a diverse, dynamic one with many proud achievements in science-technology, education, health, business, culture, arts, and social activities. The community is people of Vietnamese blood, always looking towards their homeland, but growing up and attached to the US. It is therefore natural that Vietnamese people in the US have become a vibrant and profound bridge between the two countries.

Taking place in the context of the world situation continuing to undergo rapid, profound and epochal changes, General Secretary and State President To Lam's working visit is a clear testament to Viet Nam's foreign policy of independence, self-reliance, self-strengthening, multilateralisation, diversification and proactive, active, and comprehensive international integration. It also reflects efforts to make effective use of favourable conditions and resources to open new space and room for the country's development. The trip also provides an opportunity for Viet Nam to convey, at the highest level, the message that the country is entering a new era of development, with a strong vision, determination and aspiration to advance.