Vietnam welcomes King and Queen of Thailand with 21-gun salute

Vietnam's Party General Secretary and President To Lam and his spouse, Ngo Phuong Ly, hosted an official welcome ceremony for King of Thailand Maha Vajiralongkorn Phra Vajiraklaochaoyuhua and Queen Suthida Bajrasudhabimalalakshana in Hanoi on Tuesday morning.

A 21-gun salute was fired from the Thang Long Imperial Citadel to welcome the Thai King and Queen, who are paying a state visit to Vietnam from Sept. 14 to 16.

Immediately afterwards, General Secretary and President Lam and the Thai King led their high-level delegations into talks.

Vietnam and Thailand are two Southeast Asian countries with a long-standing friendship. Since establishing diplomatic relations in 1976, bilateral cooperation has developed rapidly in both breadth and depth.

The two countries have maintained sound relations and a high level of political trust between their leaders and peoples. This provides a solid and important foundation for further deepening bilateral ties and strengthening trust at all levels and through all channels – between their States, Governments, parliaments, businesses, localities and peoples.

General Secretary and President To Lam and Thailand's King Maha Vajiralongkorn review an honor guard of the Vietnam People's Army in Hanoi on Sept. 15, 2026. Photo by Giang Huy

Thailand is currently Vietnam's largest trading partner in ASEAN. It now has 813 valid investment projects in Vietnam, ranking eighth among 153 countries and territories investing in the latter and second among ASEAN investors. Thai investors mainly operate in processing and manufacturing; electricity, gas, water and air-conditioning production and distribution; real estate; and wholesale and retail. Meanwhile, Vietnam has 23 valid investment projects in Thailand, mainly in trade and services, processing and manufacturing technology, and real estate.

Alongside economic ties, bilateral defense and security cooperation has become increasingly substantive. Tourism and people-to-people exchanges are also bright spots in bilateral relations.

The state visit to Vietnam by the King and Queen of Thailand holds special significance, marking a new historic milestone in the sound friendship and cooperation between the two countries over the past 50 years.