Top leader hosts welcome ceremony for King and Queen of Thailand

A 21-gun salute was fired from the Thang Long Imperial Citadel to welcome the Thai King and Queen, who are paying a state visit to Viet Nam from September 14 to 16.

Immediately afterwards, General Secretary and President To Lam and the Thai King led their high-level delegations into talks.

Viet Nam and Thailand are two Southeast Asian countries with a long-standing friendship. Since establishing diplomatic relations in 1976, bilateral cooperation has developed rapidly in both breadth and depth.

The two countries have maintained sound relations and a high level of political trust between their leaders and peoples. This provides a solid and important foundation for further deepening bilateral ties and strengthening trust at all levels and through all channels between their States, Governments, parliaments, businesses, localities and peoples.

Thailand is currently Viet Nam's largest trading partner in ASEAN. It now has 813 valid investment projects in Viet Nam, ranking eighth among 153 countries and territories investing in the latter and second among ASEAN investors. Thai investors mainly operate in processing and manufacturing; electricity, gas, water and air-conditioning production and distribution; real estate; and wholesale and retail. Meanwhile, Viet Nam has 23 valid investment projects in Thailand, mainly in trade and services, processing and manufacturing technology, and real estate.

Alongside economic ties, bilateral defence and security cooperation has become increasingly substantive. Tourism and people-to-people exchanges are also bright spots in bilateral relations.

The state visit to Viet Nam by the King and Queen of Thailand holds special significance, marking a new historic milestone in the sound friendship and cooperation between the two countries over the past 50 years.