This is Li’s first visit to Vietnam in his new role as Chinese Premier.

The visit comes at a time when the friendly neighbourliness and comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership between Vietnam and China are growing positively and substantively. Both countries have recorded many important results in their respective national development causes.

Vietnam continues to implement the resolution of the 13th National Party Congress and is actively preparing for the 14th Congress. The macroeconomy is stable, the economic size and level as well as the security-defence capacity are constantly enhanced.

The position and reputation in the international arena is being strengthened. Party building and anti-corruption work continues to receive special attention.

The situation in China is stable, the economy continues to recover with GDP in the first half of 2024 up by 5%, while anti-corruption work has been stepped up. China maintains its position as the world’s second-largest economy.

The third plenum of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China adopted the resolution on further deepening reform in a comprehensive manner to advance Chinese modernisation, with more than 300 reform measures across a wide range of areas. Externally, China continues to enhance its relations with its neighbouring countries and traditional partners.

Vietnam-China relations continue to be stable and advance in an increasingly profound, comprehensive and substantive manner. Important visits by the two countries’ highest leaders in 2022 and 2023 have helped to deepen and elevate the Vietnam-China comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership and build a Vietnam-China community with a shared future that carries strategic significance.

During General Secretary and President To Lam’s state visit to China in August 2024, the two sides agreed to further enhance the comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership and promote the building of a Vietnam-China community with a shared future that carries strategic significance.

Cooperation in economics, trade, investment, tourism and education between the two countries has seen many new progresses. In the first eight months of 2024, bilateral trade increased by 25% over the same period last year.

Chinese investment in Vietnam reached 1.7 billion USD, continuing to rank first in the number of newly licensed projects. China was also the second largest source of foreign tourists to Vietnam, with 2.4 million visitors, accounting for 21.4% of total international arrivals in Vietnam.

The two sides have been continuing to coordinate to address limitations and obstacles in a number of cooperation areas, as well as the complicated situation at sea.

This is the first time that Chinese Premier Li Qiang has visited Vietnam as head of the Chinese government, demonstrating that China attaches importance to and wish to further enhance Vietnam-China relations. Amid the positive development trend of Vietnam-China relations, the visit will create a new impetus for bilateral cooperation in various fields.

In welcoming the Chinese Premier on his official visit, Vietnam continues to affirm its foreign policy of independence, self-reliance, peace, cooperation and development, multilateralisation and diversification, deepening foreign relations, enhancing trust, and equal and mutually beneficial cooperation.

The visit also affirms Vietnam’s consistent policy of prioritising the development of relations with neighbouring countries, including strengthening and further deepening the friendly neighbourliness and comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership between Vietnam and China.

The outcomes of the working sessions between the two countries’ leaders, as well as the cooperation agreements reached during the visit, will promote and help strengthen political trust and promote comprehensive cooperation between the two countries, especially in the fields of diplomacy, defence and security, economics, trade, tourism, culture education, people-to-people exchange, and locality-to-locality cooperation.

Chinese Premier Li Qiang’s successful official visit to Vietnam will contribute to strengthening trust, enhancing cooperation, and promoting the positive development trend of the long-standing Vietnam-China friendly neighbourliness and comprehensive cooperation, towards a future between the two countries in a new period.