Vietnam's Top Leader To Lam Heads to UN General Assembly and Canada

Vietnam's Party General Secretary and President To Lam will attend the UN General Assembly and visit Canada from September 20 to 25, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Pham Thu Hang told a press briefing on September 17. The Canada leg comes at the invitation of Governor General Louise Arbour and will be the second UN General Assembly session by Party General Secretary and President To Lam. The general debate of the 81st session will run on September 22-28 under the theme "Restoring trust, managing transformation: A United Nations that delivers for all." Vietnam's Party General Secretary and President To Lam. Photo by VnExpress/Giang Huy Since joining the UN in 1977, Vietnam has taken on several major roles, including chairing the 11th Review Conference of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) in 2026 and serving on the UN Human Rights Council for the 2023-2025 and 2026-2028 terms. A Vietnamese national has also been elected to the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) for the first time, for the 2026-2035 term. Vietnam and the U.S. normalized relations in July 1995, upgraded ties to a Comprehensive Partnership in July 2013 and elevated them to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in September 2023. The U.S. is Vietnam's second-largest trading partner after China, with two-way trade reaching $170 billion in 2025 and $97.7 billion in the first half of 2026. Vietnam and Canada established diplomatic relations in 1973 and upgraded ties to a Comprehensive Partnership in November 2017. Canada is advancing its Indo-Pacific Strategy and deepening ties with ASEAN and key regional partners. Subsidiary of VnExpress License number: 71/GP-CBC, Ministry of Information andCommunications, September 22, 2021 Editor-in-Chief: Pham Van Hieu Email: [email protected]: 028 7300 9999 - Ext 8556 10th floor, Block A FPT Tower, 10 Pham Van Bach, Cau Giay Ward, Hanoi