Baku (VNA) –♌ Party General Secretary To Lam, his spouse Ngo Phuong Ly, and a high-ranking Vietnamese delegation departed the Heydar Aliyev International Airport of Azerbaijan on May 8 afternoon (local time) for an official visit to Russia, concluding their successful two-day state visit to the Central Asian nation.

This is the highest-level visit by a Vietnamese Party and State leader to Azerbaijan since the two countries officially established their diplomatic relations in 1992, contributing to further strengthening the growing, substantive, and effective cooperation between the two nations. During his stay, Lam held talks with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and witnessed the exchange of cooperation agreements, and the adoption of a joint statement on the establishment of Vietnam-Azerbaijan strategic partnership. He delivered a press statement, and met with Speaker of the Milli Majlis (National Assembly) of Azerbaijan Sahiba Gafarova and Azerbaijani Prime Minister Ali Asadov. He also attended the inauguration ceremony of a memorial room featuring the bond between late President Ho Chi Minh and the Vietnam – Azerbaijan oil and gas industry, and received representatives of prominent Azerbaijani companies and corporations.

During the meetings, leaders of the two sides expressed their pleasure at the significant achievements in the bilateral relations after more than three decades of diplomatic ties with political and diplomatic relations maintained and strengthened; energy cooperation expanded; and great potential and huge room for further cooperation in defence-security, trade, investment, and education–training. Lam and Aliyev emphasised that the adoption of the joint statement on the establishment of a strategic partnership between the two nations during this visit marks a historic milestone, laying a foundation for further strengthening bilateral relations in the coming time. It is expected to leverage each country’s strengths to advance Vietnam and Azerbaijan in the new era, for the benefit of their people, and for peace, stability, and development in the region and beyond. The two sides agreed to increase meetings and delegation exchanges at all levels, as well as cooperation between their ministries, sectors, and localities to further strengthen political trust. They also pledged to effectively implement the cooperation agreement between the Communist Party of Vietnam and the ruling New Azerbaijan Party, chaired by Aliyev, through delegation exchanges, information sharing, and coordination at multilateral forums of political parties. The two sides also discussed and agreed on measures and major orientations to boost ties in trade, energy, defence-security, education-training, culture, and people-to-people exchanges. To further tap the great potential and overcome challenges amid global uncertainties, Lam proposed measures to create breakthroughs and further bolster cooperation between the two countries in a more substantive, effective, and comprehensive manner./.