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Minister of Foreign Affairs Le Hoai Trung at the meeting with his Thai counterpart Sihasak Phuangketkeow in Thailand on December 14, 2025. Photo courtesy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Vietnamese, Thai FMs discuss measures to strengthen bilateral ties

Secretary of the Party Central Committee and Minister of Foreign Affairs Le Hoai Trung on December 14 held a meeting with Thai Foreign Minister Sihasak Phuangketkeow during his working visit to Thailand.

During the meeting, the two sides reaffirmed the importance they attach to the traditional friendship and Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between Vietnam and Thailand, and agreed to continue strengthening political trust through maintaining high-level and all-level delegation exchanges, particularly in 2026, when the two countries will celebrate the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations.

They consented to enhance contacts between their ministries, sectors, and localities, and to effectively implement the outcomes of the fourth Vietnam-Thailand Joint Cabinet Meeting, including coordination to soon develop an Action Program to implement the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership for the 2026-2030 period with practical and concrete contents.

The two ministers noted that economic, trade, and investment cooperation remains a pillar of bilateral relations, and agreed to continue efforts to soon achieve the target of 25 billion USD in two-way trade. They also concurred to effectively implement the “Three Connections” strategy and to step up cooperation in areas with strong potential and complementarity, such as energy, green transition, circular economy, digital economy, and logistics.

Both sides will encourage enterprises of the two countries to expand investment in each other’s markets, contributing to balanced, stable, and sustainable bilateral economic development, cited VNA.

The two sides welcomed the close and effective cooperation between their defense and security agencies, reaffirmed their commitment not to allowing any organization or individual to use the territory of one country to act against the other. They agreed to continue coordination in combating transnational crime, drug trafficking, and high-tech crime.

Exchanging views on regional and international issues, the two ministers stressed the importance of maintaining peace, stability, security, and safety in the region; underscored ASEAN’s central role; and agreed to strengthen ASEAN unity and cohesion, as well as coordination of ASEAN’s common positions and voice on regional and global issues.

After the Thai FM shared information on recent tensions along the Thailand-Cambodia border, Trung expressed concern over the complicated developments in the border areas between Thailand and Cambodia. He called on the parties to exercise restraint, avoid escalation, and resolve differences by peaceful means, through dialogue and in accordance with international law and existing regional agreements and mechanisms.

The Vietnamese minister affirmed that Vietnam stands ready to coordinate with ASEAN countries, including Thailand, to actively contribute to joint efforts to maintain long-term peace and stability in the region.

On this occasion, Trung visited the Vietnamese Embassy in Thailand and met with its staff. He appreciated the embassy’s efforts in diplomatic work, citizen protection, and the promotion of Vietnam-Thailand friendship and cooperation, and urged the embassy to continue promoting its bridging role and increase support for the Vietnamese community in Thailand, helping further strengthen bilateral relations and making positive contributions to the host country.

General Vo Nguyen Giap: A bridge of solidarity between Vietnam and Algeria

As Vietnam-Algeria relations were elevated to a Strategic Partnership during Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh’s official visit, and ahead of the 50th anniversary of General Vo Nguyen Giap’s historic visit and speech in Algeria in January 1976, a broad array of meaningful activities took place in Algiers December 9 to 14.

The events were organised by the Friends of the Algerian Revolution International Association (AIARA) , together with Vo Hong Nam, son of General Vo Nguyen Giap and a member of the association’s executive committee.

The activities aimed to pay tribute to and reaffirm the revolutionary solidarity between Vietnam and Algeria, while spreading humanitarian values, strengthening friendship and people-to-people diplomacy between the two countries.

At a meeting with Noureddine Djoudi, veteran diplomat and former Algerian Ambassador who currently serves as AIARA President, the two sides recalled historic moments in the national liberation struggles of both nations. They also discussed measures to “pass on the flame” by raising awareness and reinforcing revolutionary spirit among younger generations in Vietnam and Algeria in the current context.

During a separate meeting with Vo Hong Nam, Abdelmalek Tacherift, Minister of Veterans and Meritorious People of Algeria expressed deep admiration for General Vo Nguyen Giap’s outstanding contributions to national liberation movements worldwide. He described Vietnam as a model not only in the struggle for national independence but also in national construction and development, and voiced his hope that Vietnam would continue to play an increasingly active role in promoting global peace and progress.

Vo Hong Nam, for his part, expressed his deep emotion at the sincere and profound sentiments shown by Minister Tacherift toward the Vietnamese people and General Vo Nguyen Giap personally. He also proposed various forms of cooperation with the Ministry of War Veterans to promote education and outreach to younger generations, with a view to further spreading the rare and enduring traditional bond between the two peoples over more than 70 years, especially after bilateral ties were upgraded to a Strategic Partnership, according to VOV.

Book on General Vo Nguyen Giap and the Dien Bien Phu Victory launched at AIARA headquarters (Photo: VNA)

On this occasion, Chief of Staff of the Algerian People’s National Army General Saïd Chengriha sent a letter of appreciation to the family of General Vo Nguyen Giap. In the letter, he expressed his esteem for the General’s book Dien Bien Phu, whose Arabic edition was introduced for the first time at the National Museum of the Mujahid during Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh’s visit. General Chengriha highlighted General Vo Nguyen Giap’s major contributions to the Algerian revolution and people, liberation movements across Africa, and the development of Vietnam-Algeria friendship, while voicing confidence in the prospects for further advancing bilateral agreements within the Strategic Partnership framework.

Speaking to the press in Algiers, Vo Hong Nam said the Algerian people are warm and hospitable, and hold special affection for President Ho Chi Minh, General Vo Nguyen Giap and Vietnam’s national liberation struggle. During a visit to the National Museum of the Mujahid on December 11 – a date of special significance to the Algerian revolutionary movement, he was moved to see a painting depicting General Vo Nguyen Giap meeting President Houari Boumediene, a gift from Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, displayed in a prominent position.

The exhibit embodies deep respect for the General personally, along with the longstanding traditional friendship between the two nations.

During the visit, the delegation also met and exchanged views with Algerian war veterans, who expressed profound respect for the Dien Bien Phu Victory and General Vo Nguyen Giap’s role. They affirmed that the historic victory had far-reaching influence on colonized countries and national liberation movements worldwide. Many recalled that from 1958, Algerian revolutionaries traveled to Vietnam to study people’s war experience, contributing to the success of Algeria’s struggle for independence and the establishment of the North African nation as an independent country in 1962.

Vietnam, Nepal seek to promote deeper, substantive cooperation

Vietnam and Nepal should further strengthen close coordination and effectively tap into their respective potential and advantages in order to promote deeper and more substantive cooperation across various fields, said Minister of Foreign Affairs Le Hoai Trung.

Receiving Non-Resident Ambassador of Nepal to Vietnam Dhan Bahadur Oli in Hanoi on December 13, Trung congratulated the ambassador on presenting his Letters of Credence to State President Luong Cuong, officially commencing his term of office in Vietnam.

The minister appreciated the long-standing traditional friendship and multifaceted cooperation between Vietnam and Nepal, stressing that 2025 marks the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries. He expressed his satisfaction with the positive development of bilateral relations in recent years, particularly following the official visit to Nepal by Vice State President Vo Thi Anh Xuan in August 2025.

Trung emphasized that the two countries’ similarities in culture and religion, especially Buddhism, as well as their common views on regional and international issues, constitute an important foundation and strong bond strengthening the friendship between the two peoples.

He suggested that the ambassador enhance connectivity between ministries, sectors, enterprises, and associations of the two countries through exchanges of delegations or the organization of online dialogue forums to foster mutual understanding; and work toward the early establishment of a consultation mechanism between the two Ministries of Foreign Affairs, cited VNA.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Le Hoai Trung receives Non-Resident Ambassador of Nepal to Vietnam Dhan Bahadur Oli in Hanoi on December 13, 2025. Photo courtesy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

He emphasized the need to consider negotiating and signing important agreements to create a stable cooperation framework, including those on trade and investment; establish cooperation between the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry; and encourage airlines to open direct or charter flights between the two countries.

On this occasion, the FM also urged the ambassador and the Government of Nepal to pay attention to and create favorable conditions for the Vietnamese community in Nepal to live, study, and do business.

For his part, Ambassador Dhan Bahadur Oli shared an overview of Nepal’s current situation, noting that his country is making efforts to stabilise the situation toward holding elections in early 2026. The Government and people of Nepal are striving to achieve socio-economic development goals and aiming to graduate from the group of least developed countries by 2027, he stated.

The ambassador stressed that Nepalese leaders attach great importance to relations with Vietnam and wish to learn from its experience and development models in socio-economic development and international integration. He affirmed that he would formulate concrete plans to promote bilateral cooperation in trade, investment, energy, science and technology, culture, tourism, education and training, and people-to-people exchanges.

Both host and guest affirmed their continued close coordination and mutual support within multilateral forums, particularly in candidacies for important United Nations bodies.

Minister Trung wished the Nepalese ambassador a successful tenure and expressed his confidence that, with his experience, he would successfully fulfill his duties and contribute to further strengthening the traditional friendship between Vietnam and Nepal.

Switzerland, Vietnam step up cooperation to strengthen export capacity

The Ministry of Industry and Trade, in coordination with the Embassy of Switzerland in Vietnam, will host a conference in Hanoi on December 16 to review the Swiss Trade Policy and Export Promotion Program (SwissTrade), funded by the Swiss Government, marking five years of cooperation in support of sustainable export development for Vietnamese businesses.

The program is a technical cooperation initiative aimed at strengthening trade capacity and supporting Vietnamese enterprises in pursuing sustainable exports. The conference will assess results after five years of implementation, acknowledge contributions from relevant agencies, organizations, experts and the business community, and outline next steps in cooperation between Vietnam and Switzerland.

After five years of implementation in Vietnam, the SwissTrade program has recorded notable outcomes across all three components: improving the trade policy framework; strengthening public-private dialogue mechanisms in policymaking; and building capacity for the export promotion ecosystem.

Despite various challenges during implementation, particularly the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and differences in regulations and financial management mechanisms, project partners worked closely and adapted flexibly to ensure both progress and quality, cited VOV.

Footwear remains among Vietnam’s key export items to Switzerland.

The program made an important contribution to the development of Vietnam’s Import-Export Strategy to 2030, promoted public-private dialogue, enhanced transparency and effectiveness in trade policymaking, and supported business support organizations (BSOs) in strengthening their capacity to assist small and medium-sized enterprises in accessing market information, meeting international standards and expanding their operations.

The results achieved have helped improve the trade policy environment, boost exports and enhance the competitiveness of Vietnamese enterprises amid global economic uncertainties. Key lessons drawn from the program will provide a solid foundation for future cooperation initiatives, including evidence-based policymaking using analytical tools and data, more effective public–private dialogue, and a stronger focus on innovation and digital transformation.

The implementation results of the SwissTrade program mark an important milestone in Vietnam–Switzerland cooperation in the trade sector. These outcomes will continue to be built upon to support the goal of enhancing national competitiveness and helping Vietnamese businesses expand into international markets in the period ahead.

SEA Games 33: Vietnam bag more gold medals

Vietnam’s female karatekas on the afternoon of December 14 defeated Thailand 2-0 in the women’s team karate event, securing the Vietnamese delegation’s third gold medal of the day.

Earlier, on the competition day of December 13, the Vietnamese karate team had delivered an impressive hat-trick of gold medals.

Also on December 14, 16-year-old Tran Hoang Khoi made history for Vietnamese sports at the SEA Games by winning the men’s singles bowling final. The young athlete convincingly defeated host competitor Napat Buspanikonkul 235–210, earning Vietnam its fourth gold medal of the day.

Later in the evening, swimmer Pham Thanh Bao continued to bring pride to Vietnamese sports by claiming gold in the men’s 200m breaststroke at the SEA Games 2025. The convincing victory not only completed his double gold in the 100m and 200m breaststroke events at this year’s Games, but also firmly cemented his status as the “king of breaststroke” in Southeast Asia.

The success in the 200m breaststroke came just days after Bao successfully defended his men’s 100m breaststroke gold medal, VNA reported.

Vietnam women’s football team defeat Indonesia 5–0 in the semi-final at SEA Games 33. (Photo: VNA)

In football, the Vietnamese women’s team lived up to expectations by defeating Indonesia 5-0 to book a place in the final for the SEA Games 2025 gold medal. While the victory did not produce a clike host Thailand’s 8-0 win over Indonesia in the group stage, the Vietnamese girls still demonstrated clear superiority in the semi-final of the women’s football tournament at SEA Games 2025.

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