ASEAN Beat | Diplomacy | Southeast Asia

Vietnam’s Top Leader To Lam to Pay State Visits to Australia and New Zealand

The visits are likely to build on the momentum created by the Comprehensive Strategic Partnerships signed recently with both countries.

To Lam, general secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam and president of Vietnam, delivers a keynote address at the 23rd IISS Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, May 29, 2026.

Vietnam’s President To Lam will next week embark on state visits to Australia and New Zealand, the country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday.

In a statement, it announced that Lam, who also serves as general secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV), would travel to the two nations from August 9 to 14, but did not specify the exact itinerary.

The trip, which has been rumored for several weeks, was confirmed by Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s office, which said that Lam would be in Australia on August 9-12 and would meet with Albanese on August 11 in order “to discuss opportunities to deepen cooperation.”

“I look forward to welcoming General Secretary and President To Lam to Australia and discussing how we can strengthen cooperation between our two nations,” Albanese said in the statement. “The Vietnam-Australia relationship is grounded in deep strategic trust, mutual interests, and a shared ambition for the future of our region.”

The New Zealand government also confirmed that Lam would arrive in Auckland on August 12 and depart the following day.

The Vietnamese leader’s trip to Australia is likely to build on the momentum created by the two nations’ establishment of a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in March 2024. This raised Australia to the highest tier of Vietnam’s diplomatic hierarchy, alongside Russia, China, and the United States, and pledged to develop “all aspects of our relationship,” including defense and security, trade, education, energy cooperation, and digital transformation.

Lam’s visit, his first to Australia since being appointed president in April, will “consolidate political trust at the highest level and provide fresh momentum for the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership,” Vietnam’s Ambassador to Australia Pham Hung Tam told state media.

It will also offer an opportunity for Lam and Albanese “to exchange views on regional and international issues of mutual concern and enhance coordination at multilateral forums, reaffirming their shared commitment to peace, stability, cooperation, and sustainable development,” Tam said.

According to a........

© The Diplomat