Vietnam's Party chief To Lam leaves for state visit to South Korea

Vietnam's Party General Secretary To Lam and his spouse Ngo Phuong Ly departed from Hanoi on Sunday morning for a four-day state visit to South Korea, at the invitation of President Lee Jae Myung.

Accompanying the Party leader during the trip are Nguyen Duy Ngoc, Politburo member, Secretary of the Party Central Committee, and Chairman of the committee's Inspection Commission; General Phan Van Giang, Politburo member, Minister of National Defence; General Lương Tam Quang, Politburo member, Minister of Public Security; Nguyen Van Nen, Politburo member, Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee; and Le Hoai Trung, Secretary of the Party Central Committee, Chief of the committee’s Office.

Other members of the delegation include Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son, Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Le Minh Hoan, Minister of Home Affairs Pham Thi Thanh Tra, Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien, Minister of Science and Technology Nguyen Manh Hung, Minister of Finance Nguyen Van Thang, Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Nguyen Van Hung, Assistant to the Party chief To An Xo, and Vietnamese Ambassador to South Korea Vu Ho.

This is the first state visit to South Korea by Party General Secretary To Lam in his current position. It will offer an opportunity for the two sides to engage in in-depth strategic discussions, identify directions and measures to develop their relations in a substantive, comprehensive, and effective manner.

At the same time, it will open up new development orientations in important and potential areas of collaboration, especially science and technology and innovation, thereby bringing practical benefits to the two countries' people and contributing to peace, stability, cooperation, and development in the region and the world.

As Vietnam is formulating and implementing major national development orientations, this trip further underscores the country’s foreign policy of independence, self-reliance, diversification and multilateralization of external relations, and proactive, active, comprehensive, intensive, extensive and effective international integration.

It is also an important diplomatic activity aimed at promoting the implementation of the Politburo’s Resolution No. 59 on international integration in the new situation.