Vietnamese Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính and Luxembourg Prime Minister Xavier Bettel review the guard of honour during the welcome ceremony held in Hà Nội on Thursday. — VNA/VNS Photos Dương Giang

HÀ NỘI — Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính on Thursday chaired an official welcome ceremony for his Luxembourg counterpart Xavier Bettel who is on an official visit to Việt Nam from May 3-5.

After the ceremony, the two PMs held official talks. They are expected to witness the signing of some cooperation agreements between their countries’ ministries and sectors and meet with the press to inform them of their talks’ outcomes.

Before the ceremony, the Luxembourg leader paid his respects to late Vietnamese President Hồ Chí Minh at the mausoleum, visited a monument to Vietnamese heroes and martyrs and the memorial site dedicated to the late founding father of modern Việt Nam in Hà Nội.

He and PM Chính will also visit the Temple of Literature and the Việt Nam Fine Arts Museum.

In addition, PM Bettel will meet with National Assembly Chairman Vương Đình Huệ and take part in some activities in HCM City, including a Việt Nam-Luxembourg business forum and a meeting with the city’s leaders.

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Vietnamese Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính and Luxembourg Prime Minister Xavier Bettel shake hands at the welcome ceremony in Hà Nội on Thursday.

​This is Xavier Bettel's first official visit outside Europe in 2023 and the first by a Luxembourg PM to Việt Nam in over 20 years. The visit, which comes just five months after PM Chính's official visit to Luxembourg in December 2022, is also the first high-level diplomatic activity on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Việt Nam and Luxembourg.

Việt Nam and Luxembourg set up diplomatic ties on November 15, 1973. As of March 2023, Luxembourg had invested US$2.6 billion in 64 projects in Việt Nam, ranking third among the 24 EU members and 17th among the 139 countries and territories investing in the Southeast Asian nation.

In 2022, bilateral trade stood at $187.1 million, rising 69 per cent year on year. The figure included $130.14 million worth of Việt Nam's exports and $56.96 million worth of imports from Luxembourg.

During PM Chính's official visit to Luxembourg, the two sides inked a memorandum of understanding on promoting trade and business dialogue between the Việt Nam Trade Promotion Agency under the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Luxembourg Chamber of Commerce, along with a cooperation deal between the Vietnam Stock Exchange and the Luxembourg Stock Exchange. — VNS

Vietnamese Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính greets Luxembourg Prime Minister Xavier Bettel.

Luxembourg Prime Minister Xavier Bettel visits the Hồ Chí Minh's stilt house in Hà Nội on Thursday morning. — VNA/VNS Photo Minh Đức