President Nguyen Xuan Phuc officially visits Thailand: The two sides will issue a Joint Statement and sign many documents.

Responding to the press, Vietnamese Ambassador to Thailand Phan Chi Thanh said that this is the official visit of the head of state of Vietnam to the Kingdom of Thailand after 24 years since the visit of former President Tran Duc Luong in 1998 and nearly 10 years after the official visit to Thailand by General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong in 2013.

This is also the first visit by a senior Vietnamese leader to Thailand after the success of the 13th National Party Congress. The visit is a new milestone in the relationship between the two friendly neighboring countries sharing the Mekong River, both members of ASEAN.

President Nguyen Xuan Phuc as Prime Minister and Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha, during his visit to Thailand in 2017. Photo: VGP

Over the past 24 years, especially after the two countries established a strategic partnership, Vietnam-Thailand relations have been consolidated, developed rapidly and have truly changed in quality, demonstrated in all fields.

The Ambassador said that President Nguyen Xuan Phuc's visit is a strong affirmation of Vietnam's commitment and determination to continue strengthening and developing the Vietnam-Thailand strategic partnership to new heights, becoming increasingly substantive and effective.

The President and his wife will meet with the King and Queen of Thailand; the President and leaders of several ministries will hold talks with Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha and members of the Thai cabinet; attend the signing ceremony of several cooperation documents, including the Action Plan to implement the Vietnam-Thailand Enhanced Strategic Partnership for the 2022-2027 period; meet with President of the Thai National Assembly Chuan Leekpai and leaders of the Thai Senate and House of Representatives; attend meetings with prominent businesses of Vietnam and Thailand; attend the opening ceremony of the Vietnamese Goods Week in Thailand and other activities.

In particular, the two sides will issue a Joint Statement affirming the significance of the visit.

The Ambassador also said that the Royal Family and the Thai Government prepared for the visit very thoughtfully and respectfully.

The President is also the first leader among economic leaders to officially visit Thailand on the occasion of this APEC Summit.

New vitality for Vietnam-Thailand relations

Immediately after the visit, the President and the Vietnamese high-ranking delegation will attend the 29th APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting in Bangkok. The conference program is packed with many meetings and bilateral meetings with economic leaders.

"We hope that this visit will create a new vitality, truly a historic milestone not only in Vietnam - Thailand relations, but also in Vietnam's participation in the APEC forum," said Ambassador Phan Chi Thanh.

Thailand and Vietnam are each other's top economic partners. In terms of investment, Thailand has now risen to become the 8th largest investment partner out of 140 countries and territories investing in Vietnam, with nearly 700 projects and a total capital of over 13 billion USD.

The main investment areas include industrial park construction, high technology, energy, retail, agriculture, environment, finance-banking, electronics, refrigeration, agricultural processing, animal feed... In particular, there has recently been a strong trend of investment in renewable energy. Thai enterprises assess that business opportunities in Vietnam are very diverse and will continue to invest more heavily in Vietnam.

Thailand is Vietnam's largest trading partner in ASEAN with two-way trade reaching about 19 billion USD in 2021 and 10.6 billion USD in the first 6 months of 2022. Our export turnover to Thailand averages about 7 billion USD per year. Vietnam is among the top export markets of Thailand. The two countries aim for two-way trade turnover of 25 billion USD by 2025.

However, the Vietnamese Ambassador assessed that the economic relations between the two countries have a number of issues that need to be resolved, such as imbalances in trade, investment, tourism, banking, etc. Vietnam's investment in Thailand is still quite modest, not commensurate with the potential of Vietnamese enterprises and Thailand's development needs.

The new point in this visit is that the two sides will agree on implementing three connections: connecting supply chains; connecting production facilities, first of all medium, small and micro enterprises in localities of the two countries; connecting sustainable development policies of the two countries.

Due to the nature of the first direct meeting of APEC economic leaders in four years, the Thai side pays special attention to preparations for APEC 2022 in general and APEC High-Level Week in particular to create its own mark.

The Royal Thai Government considers this the country's biggest foreign policy task in 2022. The host's workload is enormous.

Tran Thuong