Canada and Vietnam have elevated their diplomatic relations this week to a “strategic partnership.”
The partnership was announced this week during Vietnamese President Tô Lâm’s state visit to Ottawa. Lâm, who serves as general secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam and president of Vietnam, was invited by Governor General Louise Arbour and met with Canada Prime Minister Mark Carney.
This was the first official visit to Canada by a general secretary of the communist party of Vietnam after the establishment of formal diplomatic relations between the two countries back in 1973. Vietnam and Canada’s relationship was upgraded to a “comprehensive partnership” level when Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau visited the country in November 2017.
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In Ottawa, Lâm and Carney held a press conference and released a 3,200-page statement about the partnership. The announcement comes as the U.S. and Canada are embroiled in a trade war.
During the press event, Carney told reporters that in the past five years, “our trade has more than doubled between our two countries. We will strike agreements on several areas today, in energy, clean energy, conventional energy, agriculture, defense cooperation and people-to-people ties.”
In a joint statement, the two leaders said the visit “demonstrated the strong commitment of both leaders to usher bilateral relations into a new era of deeper, more substantive and more sustainable cooperation, underpinned by stronger economic cooperation, mutually beneficial growth and sustainable development.”
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