Brazil and Vietnam on Friday, March 28, signed an action plan for 2025–2030 to implement a strategic partnership—a type of superior diplomatic ties.
The move was made official by Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and his Vietnamese counterpart Luong Cuong in Hanoi, the Vietnamese capital, where the Latin American leader is on a state visit.
In 2024, Brazil and Vietnam celebrated 35 years of diplomatic ties. The bilateral relationship was elevated to a strategic partnership on November 17, 2024, at a meeting between President Lula and the country’s Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Rio de Janeiro. Among Southeast Asian nations, Indonesia was Brazil’s only strategic partner.
“With bilateral trade flows approaching $8 billion, Brazil exports more to Vietnam than it sells to Portugal, the UK, and France. That’s why my government is interested in recognizing Vietnam as a market economy. These and other measures should allow us to expand trade and investment flows between our countries,” President Lula told the press next to President Luong Cuong.
The plan brings together priorities for bilateral relations on issues such as defense, economy, trade, and investment; agriculture and food and nutrition security; science, technology and innovation; environment and sustainability; energy transition and sociocultural cooperation; and consular affairs.
“No collaboration is as strategic for the future of two emerging countries as cooperation in education and science and technology. Soon, our universities will have the chance to promote the exchange of teachers and students, in addition to other joint initiatives. We’re studying partnerships in areas such as semiconductors, artificial intelligence, digital technologies, biotechnology, and renewable energies,” said President Lula.
During the meeting in Hanoi, four other bilateral documents were signed—two on remunerated activities by dependents of diplomatic missions and on the exchange and protection of classified information; and two memorandums of understanding, one on trade and industrial cooperation and another between football confederations.
Trade
Vietnam is the fifth top consumer of Brazilian agricultural products. Brazil supplies some 70 percent of the soybeans imported by Vietnam, as well as being the main supplier of pork (37%) and the second largest of chicken meat and cotton.
The expansion of trade between the two nations also includes opening up the Asian country to Brazilian beef. In President Lula’s view, the measure will attract investment from Brazilian meat packers, making Vietnam “an export platform for Southeast Asia.”
Engagements
The trip to Vietnam continues until Saturday (29), with the participation of the president and Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh in the Brazil–Vietnam Business Forum. The country was the Brazilian leader’s second stop in Asia. Earlier, the Brazilian had taken his entourage on a state visit to Japan. The delegation is due to return to Brazil on Sunday evening.
