Canada and Viet Nam raise their ties to a Strategic Partnership built on eight pillars

24 September 2026

Canada and Viet Nam have issued a joint statement elevating their relationship to a Strategic Partnership. Prime Minister Mark Carney and To Lam, General Secretary of Viet Nam's Communist Party and President of Viet Nam, agreed on it in Ottawa during a State visit, the first by a Communist Party General Secretary since the two countries opened diplomatic relations in 1973. The partnership rests on eight pillars covering political cooperation, trade and investment, transport and supply chains, digital transformation and artificial intelligence, energy and environment, food security, defence and law enforcement, and education and people-to-people ties. The two sides signed memorandums of understanding on energy and on environmental cooperation, agreed to widen their air transport agreement to allow direct passenger and cargo flights, and backed both the ASEAN-Canada Free Trade Agreement and the CPTPP. Their combined agri-food and seafood trade was nearly CAN$1.7 billion in 2025. The statement notes that Canada is to host La Francophonie in 2028 and APEC in 2029.