Brazil’s President Lula da Silva has invited Vietnam’s Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh to attend the 2024 Group of Twenty (G20) Summit, which is scheduled to take place in Rio de Janeiro in November. 

Vietnam’s Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh (R) and Brazil’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Mauro Vieira in Hanoi on April 10. Photo: VGP

Brazil’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mauro Vieira, delivered the invitation to Prime Minister Chinh at the meeting in Hanoi in April, the second visit of the top Brazilian diplomat.

Approving the invitation with great pleasure, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh declared that Vietnam would actively support the G20’s success and expressed great appreciation for Brazil’s suggested summit topics. He requested that the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of both countries coordinate closely to prepare for the Prime Minister’s visit and activities at the upcoming summit.

Chinh shared his impressions of Brazil’s land and people during his visit to the Latin American country in September 2023, highly appreciating the Brazilian government’s policies to reinforce its political and economic role in the region and international agendas.

He believed that Mauro Vieira’s visit to Vietnam would contribute further to the Vietnam-Brazil comprehensive partnership, pointing out specific steps for the implementation of agreements signed by the top leaders, especially in the fields of both countries’ strengths like agriculture, climate change response, green growth, energy transition, digital transformation, football coaching, and Halal products.

The Vietnamese Government leader underscored the economic potential as Brazil is Vietnam’s biggest trade partner in Latin America and the second largest in America, with two-way trade reaching US$7.1 billion in 2023.

He expected that Brazil would recognize Vietnam’s economic mechanism and cooperate with members of the MERCOSUR or the Southern Common Market, an economic and political bloc originally comprising Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay, to soon launch negotiations on MERCOSUR-Vietnam free trade agreement. The move is expected to contribute to boosting bilateral trade between Vietnam and Brazil, facilitating investment, and lifting the relationship to a new height.

The Brazilian foreign minister affirmed that the government of President Lula da Silva appreciates Vietnam’s role in the region. He said that his visit aims to promote results gained in PM Chinh’s visit in September 2023, expand cooperation, and prepare for President Lula da Silva’s visit to Vietnam in the coming time. 

Vietnam’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son and Mauro Vieira in Hanoi on April 10. Photo: Baoquocte

On the same day at the meeting between Vietnam’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son and Mauro Vieira, the two sides discussed measures toward upgrading the relations to a strategic partnership on the 35th anniversary of establishing bilateral diplomatic ties in 2024.   

The two foreign ministers highlighted the mutual support at international agendas and multilateral forums like the United Nations, G20, G77, WTO, the Forum of East Asia–Latin America Cooperation (FEALAC), and the South-South Cooperation, among others.