Dong Nai helps strengthen Vietnam-Thailand ties

Fifty years after Vietnam and Thailand established diplomatic relations, ties between the two countries have grown increasingly close, with cooperation expanding across a wide range of fields. Dong Nai is emerging as a dynamic bridge, helping make bilateral cooperation deeper, more substantive and effective.

Part 1: Five decades of building comprehensive bilateral ties

Over the past 50 years, Vietnam-Thailand relations have steadily strengthened across a wide range of areas, including politics, economics, culture and people-to-people exchanges.

Vo Tan Duc, Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee (now City Party Committee), second from right in the front row, receives Thai Ambassador to Vietnam Urawadee Sriphiromya in late 2025. Photo: Ngoc Lien

Since 1995, Dong Nai, now a city, has focused on expanding international relations with foreign partners, localities and territories around the world, including Thailand.

Building on President Ho Chi Minh's legacy of friendship

Long before Vietnam and Thailand officially established diplomatic relations, Thailand was one of the stops made by President Ho Chi Minh on his journey home after decades spent seeking a path to national liberation. His time in Thailand was part of his preparations for the establishment of a political party to lead the Vietnamese revolution. President Ho Chi Minh's choice of Thailand as one of his destinations left an enduring mark and became an important part of the legacy of friendship between the two countries, helping foster bonds between their peoples to this day. Thailand is now home to three memorial sites dedicated to President Ho Chi Minh, in Udon Thani, Nakhon Phanom and Phichit provinces. They stand as symbols of the historic friendship and mutual respect between the two peoples.

Building on the legacy left by President Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam and Thailand have maintained regular high-level visits and exchanges over the past five decades since establishing diplomatic relations in 1976, helping elevate bilateral ties to new heights. These high-level exchanges have deepened mutual understanding between the two peoples, while strategic cooperation has continued to expand across a wide range of areas, including people-to-people exchanges, economic, political, cultural and social cooperation.

At talks between Party General Secretary and State President To Lam and Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul during To Lam's visit to Thailand in late May 2026, the two leaders discussed orientations for further deepening the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, expressing their readiness to stand alongside and support each other in development. The two sides agreed to continue strengthening political trust through regular high-level contacts and exchanges at all levels and through all channels, while improving the effectiveness of existing bilateral cooperation mechanisms. They also agreed to organize the fifth Vietnam-Thailand and Thailand-Vietnam Joint Cabinet Meeting in Thailand and soon convene a meeting of the Joint Commission for Bilateral Cooperation co-chaired by the two foreign ministers.

(Source: Government News)

Most recently, during his official visit to Thailand in late May 2026, General Secretary and State President To Lam reaffirmed the political trust between the two governments, opening a new chapter in Vietnam-Thailand relations. At their talks, the two leaders spoke highly of the strong, comprehensive and substantive development of bilateral ties in recent years, noting that political trust had been strengthened, while defense and security cooperation had deepened and become an important pillar of bilateral relations. Economic, trade and investment cooperation has continued to grow positively, while cooperation between localities, along with cultural, educational and tourism exchanges and people-to-people ties, has expanded in increasingly diverse and substantive forms.

During the visit, General Secretary and State President To Lam and Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul witnessed the signing of the Action Programme for the Implementation of the Vietnam-Thailand Comprehensive Strategic Partnership for 2026-2031, as well as the exchange of cooperation documents in science and technology and education.

Dong Nai deepens ties with Thailand

To contribute to deeper and more sustainable Vietnam-Thailand relations, Dong Nai has stepped up external relations with Thailand across political, people-to-people, economic, cultural and social fields in recent years.

A worker operates production machinery at TS Molymer Vietnam Co., Ltd. in Amata Industrial Park. Photo: Ngoc Lien

Tran Thuy Tien, Standing Vice Chairwoman of the Dong Nai Union of Friendship Organizations (DNUFO), said the city has consistently strengthened people-to-people diplomacy with Thai businesses and the Thai community in Dong Nai. These activities have helped make people-to-people diplomacy increasingly substantive and effective. Notably, relations between Dong Nai and Thai businesses are no longer limited to production, business and investment, but are increasingly reflected in people-to-people exchanges and corporate social responsibility.

In particular, to mark the 50th anniversary of Vietnam-Thailand diplomatic relations, the DNUFO has organized a series of activities, including a gathering to celebrate the traditional Songkran festival and the “Bright and Healthy Eyes” program, which provided eye examinations and eyeglasses to 300 elderly members. It also organized a people-to-people exchange between the Dong Nai’s Vietnam-Thailand Friendship Association and the Consulate General of Thailand in Ho Chi Minh City, the Thailand-Vietnam Friendship Association in Thailand, the Thai Business Association in Vietnam and Thai businesses operating in Dong Nai. These activities have created a favorable foundation for people-to-people diplomacy to continue serving as a bridge, contributing to increasingly close, substantive and sustainable friendship between Vietnam and Thailand.

To further promote cooperation between Dong Nai and Thailand, Nguyen Viet Thang, Deputy Director of the Dong Nai Department of Foreign Affairs, said the department would continue to regard proactive local external relations and international integration as a “key and regular” task. The department will proactively coordinate with relevant departments, agencies, localities, foreign representative missions in Vietnam and Vietnamese representative missions abroad, while comprehensively implementing Party diplomacy, State diplomacy and people-to-people diplomacy. These efforts will focus on investment, trade and international economic promotion programs, as well as international conferences and seminars to introduce Dong Nai's potential and strengths, attract Thai businesses and entrepreneurs, and encourage them to explore the city's investment environment and business opportunities. In cultural diplomacy, the department will diversify activities and mobilize resources, including Vietnamese people living and working in Thailand, to participate in investment and contribute to Dong Nai's socio-economic development.

By N. Lien – Translated by M.Nguyet, Thu Ha