Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs of Viet Nam Le Hoai Trung and Tuvaluan Minister of Foreign Affairs, Labour, and Trade Paulson Panapa signed a joint communiqué on the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries on September 24 (local time).
With the signing of this joint communiqué, Viet Nam has become one of the few countries in the world to establish diplomatic ties with all 193 UN member states.
Following the signing ceremony, the two officials exchanged views on orientations to advance bilateral relations in the time ahead. They affirmed that the signing of the joint communiqué is a historic milestone, laying the foundation for cooperation between the two countries. They agreed to continue discussions to promote concrete cooperation in areas of potential such as blue economy, tourism, and education, and to work closely together at multilateral forums of which both countries are members.
On this occasion, Trung invited Panapa to visit Viet Nam, and the latter accepted the invitation with pleasure.
Tuvalu is a small island nation in the South Pacific, operating under a constitutional monarchy and parliamentary democracy in which the British monarch serves as Head of State, represented by a Governor-General, while the Prime Minister is Head of Government. The country is a member of the United Nations, the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the Commonwealth, and several Pacific regional organisations, including the Pacific Community Secretariat and the Pacific Islands Forum.
Before setting up diplomatic relations with Viet Nam, Tuvalu had diplomatic ties with 123 countries, including six members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), namely Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, Thailand, Cambodia, and Indonesia.
