On March 10, 2025, Vietnam and Indonesia agreed to elevate their bilateral ties to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. This landmark was achieved during talks between General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) Central Committee To Lam and Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto in Jakarta. “We have agreed in our meeting that we want to enhance our relations, our cooperation. We want to upgrade our relations to a comprehensive strategic partnership,” Prabowo told a news conference after their meeting. “We truly want to strengthen and cooperate in almost all fields.” The two leaders agreed that Vietnam and Indonesia are two countries with important roles in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), are reliable partners of each other, share many interests and similar views. Party General Secretary Tô Lâm emphasised that Vietnam highly valued and prioritised its relationship with Indonesia, recognising the country’s key role in the region. The Party chief commended Indonesia’s achievements and expressed confidence that Indonesia would achieve a high annual growth rate of 8 per cent, becoming a developed nation by the time it celebrates its centennial in 2045. He also shared updates on Vietnam’s overall situation.
The elevation of bilateral ties to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between Indonesia and Vietnam comes at a juncture when both countries are celebrating the 70th anniversary of their diplomatic relations in 2025. Indonesia was the first Southeast Asian country to set up diplomatic ties with Vietnam. In 2013, Vietnam and Indonesia established a Strategic Partnership. Since then, Vietnam-Indonesia cooperation has developed in a more comprehensive and intensive fashion. The exchange of high-ranking delegations and contacts have been carried out regularly through both bilateral and multilateral forums. The Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between the two countries builds upon these.
Vietnam now becomes the first comprehensive strategic partner of Indonesia in ASEAN. The two countries agreed to further deepen political trust between the two countries through promoting exchanges and contacts, especially at high-level ones across all channels, effectively implementing bilateral cooperation mechanisms, and soon formulating an action plan to implement the new relationship framework. The two sides agreed to further promote defence-security cooperation, expand and deepen economic cooperation for mutual benefits and development.
The two countries agreed to encourage and create favourable conditions for their businesses to invest in each other countries, especially in such new fronts like digital economy, green economy, energy transition, development of electric vehicle ecosystem, e-commerce, digital payment, software design, and development of new technological solutions based on artificial intelligence. The two countries underscored the importance of promoting people-to-people exchanges, particularly among the younger generations. The two agreed to promote economic and trade cooperation between the two countries, striving to reach the target of two-way trade turnover of 18 billion USD by 2028.
Indonesian and Vietnamese leaders observed the signing of cooperation documents, which included: 1) Letter of Intent between the Vietnamese Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Indonesian Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs to enhance capacity in technical and digital economy sectors; 2) Letter of Intent on science, technology, and innovation cooperation between the Vietnamese Ministry of Science and Technology and the Indonesian Ministry of Higher Education, Science, and Technology; and 3) Implementation Agreement on cooperation between the Directorate of Fisheries of Vietnam’s Ministry of Agriculture and Environment and the Directorate General of Aquaculture of Indonesia’s Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries in the field of aquaculture.
The two leaders called for full implementation of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC) and for accelerating negotiations on a practical and effective Code of Conduct (COC) in the East Sea in accordance with international law, especially the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.
