Vietnamese Ambassador to Indonesia Tạ Văn Thông. VNA/VNS Photo Minh Thái

JAKARTA – Việt Nam–Indonesia relations are entering a new phase after 70 years of development on a foundation of close historical ties that began on December 30, 1955, with plenty of room for further development, according to Vietnamese Ambassador to Indonesia Tạ Văn Thông.

In an interview granted to a Vietnam News Agency correspondent in Jakarta, the diplomat noted that Indonesia was the first Southeast Asian country with which Việt Nam officially established diplomatic relations.

Their traditional friendship, nurtured early on by President Hồ Chí Minh and President Sukarno and carefully cultivated by successive generations of leaders and people of both countries, has made remarkable progress across politics, economy, defence and people-to-people exchanges.

The 70th anniversary provides an occasion to reflect on this close bond, take pride in the trust-based and sustainable relationship and look ahead to a new framework for deeper bilateral development.

A major milestone was the state visit by Party General Secretary Tô Lâm and his wife to Indonesia in March, at the invitation of President Prabowo Subianto. During the visit, the two sides upgraded ties to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, making Việt Nam Indonesia’s first such partner within ASEAN and elevating the traditional friendship to a new height.

Thông said that economic, trade and investment cooperation remains a key pillar. Despite global economic uncertainties, bilateral trade and investment maintained positive momentum in 2025. Indonesia is Việt Nam’s third-largest trading partner in ASEAN, while Việt Nam ranks fourth among Indonesia’s partners. Indonesia currently stands 30th among 143 countries investing in Việt Nam, with total registered capital of nearly US$700 million.

Major Indonesian groups such as Ciputra, Traveloka, Vietmindo Energitama, Jafpa Comfeed Vietnam and Semen Indonesia Group are active in Việt Nam, while Vietnamese corporations, including FPT, VinFast, Era Blue and Sunhouse, are expanding operations in Indonesia.  

Vietnamese consumers and food brands have gained strong recognition, alongside growing air connectivity with new direct routes linking HCM City with Bali and Hà Nội with Jakarta. 

Achievements recorded to date underscore the strong potential for expanded trade and investment cooperation between Việt Nam and Indonesia.

According to Thông, further progress will depend on raising awareness among businesses and investors in both countries about each other’s market advantages, alongside strengthening dialogue mechanisms between government agencies to establish a more favourable legal framework for trade promotion and investment procedures, thus improving business efficiency on both sides.

The ambassador held that Việt Nam and Indonesia need to make better use of the strengths of their fast-growing economies. Indonesia, currently the world’s 16th-largest economy and Southeast Asia’s largest market, also ranks among the top 10 manufacturing countries globally.

The two nations possess complementary strategic advantages, particularly in emerging areas with significant growth potential, such as Halal-certified products, agriculture, energy, high technology, the digital economy, electric vehicle ecosystem development, pharmaceuticals and medical equipment.

He stressed that relevant ministries and sectors in both countries should focus on addressing procedural bottlenecks and certification issues, strengthening policy dialogue and regulatory harmonisation in trade and investment, as well as enhancing coordination between regulators and the business community.

At the same time, enterprises should be encouraged to engage in joint production in high value-added sectors such as agricultural processing, clean energy and medical equipment, while promoting workforce development, expert exchanges and technology transfer in areas like food processing, supply chain management and logistics services.

Assessing future prospects, Thông said that an Action Programme for implementing the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership for the 2025–2030 period, which was developed during Lâm’s March visit, focuses on economic, trade, investment and agricultural cooperation, as well as emerging areas such as the digital economy, green transition and energy.

This provides a solid basis for further elevating bilateral relations, with defence and security cooperation, economic collaboration and people-to-people exchanges continuing to play key roles.

The ambassador also highlighted growing opportunities for cooperation in addressing climate change, noting that both countries have made strong commitments to carbon emission reductions.

In addition, as members of ASEAN, the ASEAN Free Trade Area and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, Việt Nam and Indonesia are well positioned to further boost bilateral trade and strengthen their partnership at both bilateral and multilateral levels. VNA/VNS