Party chief Tô Lâm and spouse Ngô Phương Ly left Hà Nội on May 5 for visits to Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Russia, and Belarus. — VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI — General Secretary of the Communist Party of Việt Nam Central Committee Tô Lâm, his spouse Ngô Phương Ly, and a high-ranking delegation of Việt Nam left Hà Nội on Monday noon for state visits to Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan, an official visit to Russia where he will attend the celebration of the 80th anniversary of the Victory of the Great Patriotic War, and then a state visit to Belarus.

The visits from May 5 to 12 are made at the invitation of President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, President of Russia Vladimir Putin, and President of Belarus Aleksandr Lukashenko.

The delegation includes Politburo members: Secretary of the Party Central Committee’s Secretariat and Chairman of the Party Central Committee’s Commission for Internal Affairs Phan Đình Trạc, President of the Hồ Chí Minh National Academy of Politics and Chairman of the Central Theory Council Nguyễn Xuân Thắng, Minister of National Defence General Phan Văn Giang, and Minister of Public Security General Lương Tam Quang.

The visits serve as additional important steps to implement the foreign policy of independence, self-reliance, multilateralisation and diversification of external relations, and proactive, active, comprehensive, and efficient integration into the world, identified at the 13th National Party Congress.

The tour of Russia and the other three countries, which used to be part of the Soviet Union, especially the Central Asian and Caucasus countries, and have supported Việt Nam in the past struggles for national safeguarding in the past and the cause of national construction and defence at present, presents an occasion to affirm Việt Nam's sincere and loyal sentiments, as well as its desire to promote long-term, effective, substantive, and mutually beneficial cooperation with the four countries. — VNA/VNS