Pecohub Vietnam and the European Union have elevated diplomatic relations as both sides seek secure footing amid global trade and security shocks.
The announcement of a “Comprehensive Strategic Partnership” between Brussels and Hanoi last week places the EU side by side with China, the United States, and Russia as one of Vietnam’s top-tier diplomatic relationships.
Vietnamese President Luong Cuong described it as a “historical milestone underlining the great achievements that the two sides have made,” during a meeting with the head of the European Council, Antonio Costa, in Hanoi.
Costa pointed out that the new partnership “highlights the importance we attach to the region and to Vietnam’s growing role.”
“At a moment when the international rules-based order is under threat from multiple sides, we need to start to stand side by side as reliable and predictable partners,” Costa added.
The European Council chaired by Costa is composed of the top leaders of the European Union countries, as well as the head of the European Commission.
Costa was welcomed by top Vietnamese politicians after arriving in the country on January 29 and becoming one of the first foreign leaders to meet Communist Party chief To Lam since Lam was re-elected earlier in January.
“The European Union is committed to strengthening and deepening its ties with Vietnam,” Costa said in a press statement, invoking “shared values and mutual goals.”
“For 35 years, our partnership has grown in depth and ambition,” he added.
The EU’s increasingly close relationship with the Communist-ruled Vietnam hinges on trade — Vietnam is now the bloc’s largest trading partner in Southeast Asia. Bilateral trade surged by roughly 50% between 2019 and 2024 to reach the volume of €67 billion ($79 billion). The available data for the first 10 months of 2025 indicates even more growth — an 8.4% rise year-on-year.
However, it is worth noting that the EU only established its “Comprehensive Strategic Partnership” after its geopolitical rivals China and Russia and its increasingly erratic ally the US all did the same. Other nations, like Japan and Singapore, have also beaten Brussels to the punch.
These partnerships are part of a deliberate strategy by Vietnam to diversify and balance its diplomatic ties and avoid becoming too dependent on any single center of power.
The US is Hanoi’s largest export market, China is a close partner due to both cultural and political ties between the two Communist parties despite the dispute in the South China Sea, and Russia is an essential weapons supplier.
“For the EU, it is not only symbolically important that the relationship now formally reaches the same level as Vietnam’s ties with China, the United States, or Japan.
