ASEAN Beat | Diplomacy | Southeast Asia

Vietnam, Canada Announce Establishment of Strategic Partnership

As middle powers reliant on international order that is in a state of disarray, Hanoi and Ottawa believe they have a lot to gain from deeper collaboration.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and Vietnam’s President To Lam shake hands during their meeting in Ottawa, Canada, Sep. 24, 2026.

Vietnam has elevated its relationship to a Strategic Partnership, as Hanoi’s top leader To Lam paid a state visit to the country – the first ever by a general secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV).

During a meeting yesterday in Ottawa, Lam and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney announced the two nations were upgrading the Comprehensive Partnership established in 2017.

Vietnamese state media reported that the two nations “agreed that Vietnam–Canada relations have met all the conditions to enter a new stage of development, characterized by a higher level of political trust, broader and more substantive cooperation, and more closely intertwined interests.”

In a joint statement issued after the meeting, the two sides described themselves as “trusted partners” who were committed to a relationship “grounded in mutual respect for each other’s political system, independence, and sovereignty and territorial integrity” and characterized by “balanced and intertwined interests.”

Although the statement did not use the term, it also referenced their common status as “middle powers” reliant on an international order that is beginning to break down under the pressure of economic protectionism and intensifying geopolitical competition. “As countries with deep integration in the global trading system,” it stated, “Canada and Viet Nam recognize that prosperity depends on rules-based international economic engagements.”

According to the joint statement, the Strategic Partnership is focused on eight primary “pillars” of cooperation: bilateral, regional, and multilateral cooperation; trade and investment; transport and infrastructure; digital technologies and artificial intelligence; energy security; food security; defense and security; and education, culture, and “people-to-people ties.”

It said that........

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