On 25 – 26 October 2023, H.E. Mr. Parnpree Bahiddha-Nukara, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Thailand, paid an official visit to the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam at the invitation of H.E. Mr. Bui Thanh Son, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam, and on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the Strategic Partnership between Thailand and Viet Nam this year.

During this visit, The Thai Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs paid a courtesy call on H.E. Mr. Pham Minh Chinh, Prime Minister of Viet Nam, and had fruitful discussions with H.E. Mr. Le Hoai Trung, Chairman of the External Relations Commission of the Communist Party of Vietnam, and H.E. Mr. Bui Thanh Son, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam.

In these meetings, both sides reaffirmed the close friendship and mutual trust between the two countries, and agreed that the strategic partnership between Thailand and Viet Nam is an important pillar for stability and development in the Mekong subregion and ASEAN. Thus, the two countries should strengthen cooperation in the face of external uncertainties.

The two sides discussed ways to strengthen cooperation in many areas, including elevation of the Thailand – Viet Nam relations to Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in order to reflect the priority that each side attaches to the ties.

Both sides supported regular exchanges of high-level visits and discussions, including the official visit to Viet Nam by H.E. Mr. Srettha Thavisin, Prime Minister of Thailand, and the Joint Cabinet Retreat (JCR) in the near future. The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Thailand also extended invitations to the Prime Minister of Viet Nam, Chairman of the External Relations Commission of the Communist Party of Vietnam, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Viet Nam, to visit Thailand.

On security cooperation, both sides supported close cooperation between the two countries’ armed forces and security agencies and full utilization of existing bilateral mechanisms to tackle common security problems, including illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, drug trafficking, human trafficking and other transnational crimes, especially online scams.

On economic cooperation, both sides agreed to increase the volume of bilateral trade, investment and tourism.
(1) On trade, both sides were pleased that bilateral trade between Thailand and Viet Nam reached 21 billion US dollars last year, and expressed their commitment to further trade facilitation, with a view to achieving the bilateral trade target of 25 billion US dollars by 2025.
(2) On investment, the Vietnamese side thanked Thai investors for playing an important role in the development of Viet Nam, and reaffirmed its continued support for Thai investments in Viet Nam. Thailand is currently the 9th largest group of foreign investors in Viet Nam. In the meantime, the Thai side invited Vietnamese companies to invest in Thailand.
(3) On tourism, the two sides will enhance cooperation to attract more tourists through more flight connections and better land transport links among Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, and Viet Nam, as well as development of coastal travel linking Thailand, Cambodia, and Viet Nam. Both sides will also increase cooperation on medical, wellness and MICE tourism.

Moving forward, both sides agreed on the need to translate the “Three Connects” strategy, which was agreed by both sides during the official visit of the previous President of Viet Nam to Thailand in November 2022, into concrete actions to promote economic partnership.
(1) Connecting Supply Chains: Both sides agreed to further capitalize on the close linkage between the Thai and Vietnamese economies, and continue to find ways to expand the supply chain links between the two countries.
(2) Connecting Local Economies: The Thai side proposed activities to promote more
tourism between the Northeastern provinces of Thailand and Central and Southern provinces of Viet Nam and more events to connect local businesses, especially SMEs.
(3) Connecting Sustainable Growth Strategies: Both sides will enhance cooperation on
digital and green economy.

On people-to-people cooperation, the Thai side expressed its commitment to continuing the works of Thailand International Cooperation Agency (TICA) in Viet Nam. Both sides stressed the need to encourage more educational exchanges and teachings of Thai and Vietnamese languages in each other’s universities to promote friendship and mutual understanding among young people. They also supported more cooperation in entertainment industry through networking and business matching.

On regional issue, both sides exchanged views on regional issues of mutual interest and concern. Thailand and Viet Nam will cooperate closely to promote ASEAN unity, which is important for regional peace and development.

Also, during this visit, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Thailand met with Team Thailand in Viet Nam, representatives of the Thai Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Viet Nam (ThaiCham), and attended an event to mark the relaunch of Thai Airways direct flights between Thailand and Viet Nam.