In his meeting with Romanian President Nicusor Dan, General Secretary and State President To Lam reaffirmed Viet Nam's consistent commitment to strengthening its traditional friendship with Romania, a country that was among the first in Europe to establish diplomatic relations with Viet Nam.
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General Secretary of the Communist Party of Viet Nam Central Committee and President To Lam (right) meets with Romanian President Nicusor Daniel Dan. (Photo: VNA) |
Against the backdrop of growing bilateral engagement, the Vietnamese leader highlighted the positive development of economic ties, noting that two-way trade reached nearly 557 million USD in 2025. He called for greater diversification of cooperation, with particular attention to sustainable agriculture, supporting industries, electronics, tourism, digital transformation, cybersecurity, culture, and education and training.
President Nicusor Dan emphasized that Romania continued to attach great importance to its relationship with Viet Nam, built on a longstanding history of friendship. He expressed support for the proposals put forward by the Vietnamese leader and pledged to promote cooperation in areas where the two countries possess complementary strengths and significant potential. He also committed to expanding scholarship opportunities for Vietnamese students and postgraduate researchers in Romania in the coming years.
Both leaders stressed the importance of sustaining high-level engagement and expanding exchanges through Party, State and parliamentary channels. They agreed that regular visits and contacts would help reinforce political trust, foster mutual understanding and create favorable conditions for broader cooperation. The two countries also pledged closer coordination and mutual support at multilateral forums, particularly on international matters of shared interest. They agreed to arrange a visit to Viet Nam by the Romanian President at an early date.
* During his talks with Senegalese President Bassirou Diomaye Faye, General Secretary and State President To Lam recalled the historical connections between the two nations, whose struggles against colonialism and pursuit of national independence had shaped a shared foundation for friendship.
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General Secretary and President To Lam meets with Senegalese President Bassirou Diomaye Faye (Photo: VNA) |
The Vietnamese leader also highlighted a historical milestone dating back 115 years, when President Ho Chi Minh visited the port of Dakar and engaged with prominent African political activists, including Senegalese revolutionaries. Building on these historical ties, he called for stronger bilateral engagement, with cooperation delivering more tangible results in line with the respective capabilities and development priorities of both countries.
Agriculture was among the areas identified for closer collaboration. General Secretary and State President To Lam urged the two sides to accelerate the implementation of existing memoranda of understanding in the sector and mobilize domestic and international resources for joint projects, particularly in rice and cashew production and processing.
He also pointed to considerable opportunities for expanding trade and investment, given the strategic positions of Viet Nam and Senegal as gateways to the ASEAN market and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), respectively.
President Faye reaffirmed Senegal's commitment to its relationship with Viet Nam, describing the Southeast Asian country as a development model. He expressed his determination to make Senegal-Viet Nam relations a model of effective cooperation between Africa and Asia.
Welcoming the Vietnamese leader's proposals, the Senegalese President pledged to facilitate investment by Vietnamese enterprises through the provision of information on prospective projects and specific investment incentives. He also encouraged stronger business engagement between the two countries.
The two leaders identified energy, telecommunications, digital technology, mining, infrastructure development and agriculture as promising sectors for expanded business partnerships. They called on enterprises from both countries to take a more active role in exploring investment and cooperation opportunities.
Beyond economic engagement, both sides agreed to maintain regular exchanges at all levels and coordinate closely in implementing bilateral agreements. They emphasized that sustained diplomatic contacts and effective follow-through on existing commitments would help consolidate traditional friendship and expand multifaceted cooperation.
The meeting also laid the groundwork for further high-level exchanges. President Faye invited General Secretary and State President To Lam to visit Senegal, while the Vietnamese leader extended an invitation to the Senegalese President to visit Viet Nam. Both leaders accepted the invitations, expressing confidence that reciprocal visits would provide fresh momentum for bilateral relations and facilitate more comprehensive and effective cooperation.
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General Secretary and President To Lam meets with President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo Félix Antoine Tshisekedi Tshilombo (Photo: VNA) |
* At his meeting with President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo Félix Antoine Tshisekedi Tshilombo, General Secretary and State President To Lam welcomed the country's development progress in recent years and commended its efforts in fulfilling its responsibilities as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council for the 2026-2027 term.
President Tshisekedi, in turn, highlighted Viet Nam's standing and contributions within the Francophone Community. He expressed interest in closer coordination with Viet Nam to foster a united, cohesive and inclusive Francophone Community, while identifying economic and trade cooperation, digital transformation, artificial intelligence and people-to-people exchanges as areas for further collaboration.
With their combined populations exceeding 220 million, the two countries have considerable scope to expand economic engagement, General Secretary and State President To Lam noted. He proposed making trade, investment and economic cooperation central priorities in efforts to advance the respective development agendas of both countries.
To facilitate greater business engagement, the Vietnamese leader called on the Democratic Republic of the Congo to provide a more favorable environment for Vietnamese enterprises seeking to invest and operate in the country. He specifically highlighted opportunities in infrastructure development, green transportation, agro-forestry and mining.
The two leaders agreed that improving market access and diversifying traded products would be essential to unlocking bilateral economic potential. They also emphasized the importance of strengthening links between business communities and accelerating negotiations toward agreements that would provide a more favorable legal framework for commercial cooperation.
Regional and international cooperation also featured in their discussions. Both sides agreed to make better use of their respective positions to promote connections between regions and organizations. In particular, they highlighted the potential for closer cooperation between Viet Nam and regional groupings of which the Democratic Republic of the Congo is a member, including the East African Community (EAC), the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS).
They also agreed to encourage stronger institutional links between ASEAN and the African Union (AU), contributing to closer interregional engagement.
On the occasion, General Secretary and State President To Lam invited President Tshisekedi to visit Viet Nam. The Congolese leader accepted the invitation and reciprocated by inviting the Vietnamese leader to visit the Democratic Republic of the Congo at an early date.
* Also on November 15, General Secretary and State President To Lam met with Swiss Vice President Ignazio Cassis, who reaffirmed Switzerland's strong commitment to its relationship with Viet Nam. He said he would work to further advance bilateral cooperation during his tenure.
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At the meeting between General Secretary and President To Lam and Swiss Vice President Ignazio Cassis (Photo: VNA) |
The two sides reviewed progress in implementing commitments and agreements reached during the high-level meeting between General Secretary and State President To Lam and Swiss President Guy Parmelin in October 2026. They also welcomed the signing of the trade agreement between Viet Nam and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), whose members are Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein.
Both sides underscored the importance of completing their respective ratification procedures without delay to enable the agreement to enter into force soon. They expressed confidence that the deal would generate practical benefits for businesses and people in Viet Nam and the other participating countries.
With bilateral relations gaining positive momentum, General Secretary and State President To Lam called for stronger efforts to translate existing commitments into concrete results, particularly in economic, trade and investment cooperation. He also proposed making science and technology, alongside financial technology, key drivers of the bilateral partnership.
The Vietnamese leader called on Switzerland to share its expertise and provide support for Viet Nam's development of financial technology (fintech) and an international financial center. He also emphasized the importance of cooperation in training highly skilled personnel to meet the demands of emerging industries, particularly semiconductors, artificial intelligence (AI), biotechnology and pharmaceuticals.
On investment, the two sides agreed to advance negotiations on updating the Viet Nam-Switzerland Bilateral Investment Protection Agreement, with a view to providing a more favorable framework for investors from both countries.
They also explored opportunities to cooperate on reducing greenhouse gas emissions in accordance with Article 6 of the Paris Agreement on climate change. Both sides reaffirmed their readiness to coordinate efforts and work toward the possibility of negotiating a bilateral agreement on carbon credit trading.
Translated by Chung Anh