Elevating Vietnam Strategic Partnership

At the invitation of the President of the Republic of Indonesia, Chairman of the Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra) Prabowo Subianto, Secretary-General of ASEAN Kao Kim Hourn and Prime Minister of the Republic of Singapore, Secretary-General of the Singapore People's Action Party (PAP) Lawrence Wong, General Secretary To Lam and his wife paid a State visit to the Republic of Indonesia, an official visit to the ASEAN Secretariat and an official visit to the Republic of Singapore from March 9 to 13, 2025.

Photo caption — General Secretary To Lam. Photo: Lam Khanh/VNA

Indonesia is the first destination of General Secretary To Lam during this visit. General Secretary To Lam's State visit to the Republic of Indonesia takes place in the context of the two countries' relations developing well with remarkable achievements. The two countries are looking forward to celebrating the 70th anniversary of diplomatic relations (1955 - 2025). The visit contributes to strengthening political trust and enhancing cooperation in all fields between the two countries.

7 decades of good traditional friendship

Historically, Indonesia is the first country in Southeast Asia with which Vietnam officially established diplomatic relations. The two countries established relations on December 30, 1955. The traditional friendship between Vietnam and Indonesia was built on a solid foundation established by President Ho Chi Minh and President Sukarno, and has been diligently cultivated, built and developed by generations of leaders and people of the two countries.

Generations of Vietnamese people still remember the affection between President Ho Chi Minh and President Sukarno, which originated from a very simple and close friendship. When President Ho Chi Minh visited Indonesia and President Sukarno visited Vietnam in the same year 1959, the Indonesian people called President Ho Chi Minh “Paman Ho”. President Ho Chi Minh also called President Sukarno by a very affectionate name “Bung Karno”.

In particular, when visiting Vietnam, President Sukarno affirmed: "Both of our peoples have fought, fought a lot, and in the same month of August 1945, both of our countries declared independence. Both countries have strong faith and thanks to that we stand firm. We are friends, fighting friends." When saying goodbye to President Sukarno, President Ho Chi Minh gave the following poem: "The country is far away but the heart is not far away/We are truly friends, truly brothers!"

Since then, the friendship between Vietnam and Indonesia has been nurtured by generations of leaders and people of the two countries.

Since 1990, the two sides have organized many mutual visits between high-ranking delegations of the State, Government, and National Assembly, exchanged delegations of ministries, sectors, enterprises, mass organizations, and cultural exchanges. The relationship between the two countries entered a new phase with the historic visit of President Suharto (November 1990).

In June 2003, during Indonesian President Megawati's visit to Vietnam, the two countries signed the "Joint Statement on the Framework of Friendly and Comprehensive Cooperation Entering the 21st Century" and the "Agreement on the Delimitation of the Continental Shelf Boundary."

In June 2013, during the State visit to Indonesia by President Truong Tan Sang, the two sides issued a Joint Statement officially establishing a Strategic Partnership. This is considered an important milestone in the history of diplomatic relations between the two countries. Since then, the Strategic Partnership between Vietnam and Indonesia has developed strongly, comprehensively and firmly.

The two countries have always promoted exchanges and contacts at high and all levels. These include: General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong's official visit to Indonesia (August 2017); General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong's phone call with Indonesian President Joko Widodo (August 2022); Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh's meeting with Indonesian President Joko Widodo on the sidelines of the ASEAN-US Summit (May 2022); Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son's official visit to Indonesia and co-chairing of the 4th meeting of the Bilateral Cooperation Committee (July 2022); Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and Indonesian President Joko Widodo met on the occasion of attending the 42nd ASEAN Summit (May 2023) and 43rd ASEAN Summit (September 2023) in Labuan Bajo (Indonesia), met at the ASEAN - GCC Summit held in Saudi Arabia (October 2023), met at the COP28 Conference held in the UAE (December 2023), met on the occasion of attending the Special Summit to celebrate 50 years of ASEAN - Australia relations in Melbourne (Australia) (March 2024); Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh met with Indonesian Vice President Ma'ruf Amin on the occasion of attending the 44th and 45th ASEAN Summits in Vientiane (Laos) (October 2024); Vice President Vo Thi Anh Xuan attended the inauguration ceremony of Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto (October 2024); President Luong Cuong met with Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto on the occasion of attending the APEC 2024 Summit in Lima (Peru) (November 15, 2024); Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh met with Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto on the occasion of attending the G20 Summit in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) (November 18, 2024)...

On the Indonesian side, there were visits by: President Joko Widodo on a state visit to Vietnam and attendance at the World Economic Forum on ASEAN held in Hanoi (September 2018); President Joko Widodo on a state visit to Vietnam (January 2024); Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi attending the ASEAN Future Forum and an official visit, co-chairing the 5th Meeting of the Vietnam - Indonesia Bilateral Cooperation Committee (April 2024); President-elect Prabowo Subianto on a working visit to Vietnam (September 2024)...

Most recently, during the working visit to Vietnam by President-elect Prabowo Subianto (September 2024), the leaders of the two countries agreed to further strengthen political trust through continuing to increase exchanges and contacts at high and all levels through the Party, State, National Assembly channels, people-to-people exchanges, and local connections; effectively promote bilateral mechanisms; promptly complete the development of the Action Program to implement the Strategic Partnership for the next 5 years; coordinate to organize practical activities to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the establishment of Vietnam-Indonesia diplomatic relations (1955-2025). The two countries agreed to continue to facilitate businesses of the two countries to invest in each other's markets in the coming time, especially in new areas such as digital economy, green economy, energy transition, and development of electric vehicle ecosystems.

In addition, the two countries also maintain high-level visits and contacts between parties. The Communist Party of Vietnam has official relations with major Indonesian political parties, the Career Party (Golkar) and the Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P). Political parties in Indonesia always express their respect for the role and position of the Communist Party of Vietnam and their desire to promote cooperation.

The two countries have signed many agreements and cooperation arrangements in various fields. Cooperation mechanisms such as the Foreign Minister-level Bilateral Cooperation Committee have held five meetings and the Joint Committee on Economic, Scientific and Technical Cooperation has held seven meetings.

Localities of the two countries are also actively strengthening cooperation. Currently, the two countries have 4 pairs of twin provinces/cities: Jakarta - Hanoi, Ba Ria - Vung Tau - Padang, Hue - Yogyakarta, Soc Trang - Lampung.

At multilateral forums, the two countries share many interests and strategic views on regional and international issues. The two countries maintain close coordination of positions at regional and international forums, especially at ASEAN, the United Nations, APEC, the Non-Aligned Movement, etc.

Economic and trade cooperation develops impressively

Vietnam and Indonesia are important trading partners of each other in ASEAN. Both countries are two potential economies, developing rapidly. Both countries are members of the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), so they have many advantages to increase two-way trade.

Currently, Indonesia is Vietnam's second largest trading partner in ASEAN; Vietnam is Indonesia's fourth largest trading partner in ASEAN. Bilateral trade turnover has quadrupled over the past decade, reaching 8.2 billion USD in 2020; 11.5 billion USD in 2021 - exceeding for the first time the target of 10 billion USD/year set by the two countries; 14.1 billion USD in 2022; 13.7 billion USD in 2023; 16.73 billion USD in 2024; 2.65 billion USD in the first two months of 2025. The two sides strive to bring bilateral trade turnover to 18 billion USD by 2028.

Regarding investment, as of January 2025, Indonesia has directly invested in Vietnam with a total capital of 669.7 million USD with 130 projects, ranking 30th out of 149 countries and territories directly investing in Vietnam. Many Indonesian corporations and companies are successfully investing and doing business in Vietnam such as: Ciputra, Traveloka, Gojek, PT Vietmindo Energitama, Jafpa Comfeed Vietnam, Semen Indonesia Group...

On the other hand, a number of large Vietnamese enterprises and corporations have been present in Indonesia such as FPT, Dien May Xanh... and other enterprises are also completing investment procedures in Indonesia such as Taxi Xanh (Vingroup), Viet Thai Group, Thai Binh Shoes, Thuan Hai Joint Stock Company... Most notably, Vinfast Global's project to build an electric vehicle factory in Indonesia with a scale of 50,000 vehicles per year, started in July 2024.

In recent meetings and exchanges, the leaders of the two countries agreed to reduce trade barriers and facilitate the import and export of each other's key products, including rice trade. The Vietnamese government has launched a strategy to develop the Halal industry to further increase exports to Halal markets (food for Muslims). Currently, the potential of the Halal market is huge, up to thousands of billions of USD. Therefore, this is a great opportunity for Vietnamese enterprises. The two countries are working to create more favorable conditions for Vietnamese enterprises to obtain Halal certification to penetrate more strongly into the Halal export market to Indonesia. Vietnam hopes that Indonesia will facilitate agricultural products and Halal products of Vietnamese origin to access the Indonesian market; encourage Indonesian enterprises to expand investment in Vietnam.

In addition, one of the prominent trends in the world today is to strengthen cooperation to respond to climate change. Both Vietnam and Indonesia have made strong commitments to reduce carbon emissions, demonstrating their responsibility in contributing to the global common effort to reduce and respond to climate change. In the process of implementing international commitments, the two countries can cooperate closely in the fields of energy conversion, carbon storage, renewable energy development, green energy, sustainable green economic development, etc.

Defense and security cooperation between Vietnam and Indonesia has been increasingly strengthened through dialogue, exchange and joint training mechanisms. The two countries have signed and effectively implemented many cooperation agreements in areas such as transnational crime prevention, counter-terrorism and maritime cooperation. Other important areas such as cultural cooperation, education, tourism, people-to-people exchange, etc. continue to be valued.

The Vietnamese community in Indonesia has about 300 people, mainly those who have settled and done business in Indonesia for a long time, have integrated well into local life, and have a stable life. The majority of people have a high sense of national spirit, are enthusiastic, and actively participate in activities towards their homeland and country.

With the foundation of a good relationship over the past 70 years, the State visit to the Republic of Indonesia by General Secretary To Lam and his wife this time is an important milestone in the relationship between the two countries. According to Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Nguyen Manh Cuong, this is the first visit by a General Secretary of our country to Indonesia in nearly 8 years (since August 2017), taking place on the occasion of Vietnam celebrating the 70th anniversary of establishing diplomatic relations with Indonesia (December 30, 1955 - December 30, 2025).

This visit of General Secretary To Lam to Indonesia demonstrates the consistent implementation of the foreign policy of independence, self-reliance, peace, cooperation and development, multilateralization and diversification of foreign relations, and the importance of relations with neighboring countries in the region of our Party and State, including the important partner Indonesia. The visit is expected to open up new cooperation spaces with many prospects for Vietnam - Indonesia relations.

Source: https://baotainguyenmoitruong.vn/nang-tam-quan-he-doi-tac-chien-luoc-viet-nam-indonesia-387395.html