BAKU, Azerbaijan, April 30. Vietnam had been
ranking among the most beloved socialist countries for Azerbaijanis
in Soviet times. As in the entire USSR, the struggle of the
Vietnamese people against the U.S. occupation was watched with
amazement in Azerbaijan. Although in 1959, the former President of
the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh, visited Azerbaijan,
no special dynamics were felt in bilateral relations.
Interestingly, relations with Vietnam reached their highest point
precisely in the last decade of the USSR. This was possible thanks
to the great leader Heydar Aliyev.
In the early 1980s, twinning relations were established between
Baku and the Vietnamese city of Vung Tau. The reason for this is
that the vast majority of local specialists working in the city's
oil industry enterprises are graduates of the Azerbaijan Industrial
Institute (now the Azerbaijan State Oil and Industry University).
There is a street named after Baku in the city of Vung Tau. At the
same time, one of the streets in Ahmadli settlement of the Khatai
district of Baku is named after Vung Tau.
Azerbaijani oil workers played a major role in the establishment
of the VietSovPetrol company in 1981, on the joint initiative of
Vietnam and the Soviet Union. The first executive director of the
company was Jalal Mammadov. At the same time, in the early years of
the company, mainly Azerbaijani specialists worked here, and most
local employees later studied at the Baku Oil Academy.
The prominent statesman Heydar Aliyev, while serving as the
First Deputy Chairman of the USSR Council of Ministers, visited
Vietnam in 1983 as the head of the Soviet delegation. This visit
was of particular importance in terms of the development of former
Soviet-Vietnamese relations. It was after this visit that Heydar
Aliyev was able to convince the Soviet leadership to provide
economic, scientific and technical assistance to Vietnam. As part
of the visit, the largest infrastructure facility in Vietnam at
that time, the Thang Long Bridge, was opened.
In addition to the capital Hanoi, Heydar Aliyev visited Vung
Tau, a coastal city in the south of the country, and got acquainted
with the work being done to establish the oil industry there, after
which more active participation of Azerbaijani specialists in the
development of Vietnam's oil industry was observed. At the same
time, after Heydar Aliyev's visit, the number of Vietnamese
students studying in various fields in Azerbaijan increased. During
the USSR, more than 5,000 Vietnamese citizens studied in
Azerbaijan, and many of them worked in responsible positions in
Vietnamese state institutions.
It's no coincidence that the Vietnamese state and people always
remember with pleasure the great support Azerbaijan provided to
Vietnam during the war and afterwards, including Heydar Aliyev's
great attention to Vietnam. In Vietnam, Heydar Aliyev is considered
a great friend of Vietnam. In addition, the activities of
specialists from Azerbaijan in Vietnam, especially their invaluable
role in organizing Vietnam's oil and gas industry, as well as the
close participation of thousands of Vietnamese graduates of
Azerbaijani educational institutions in the post-war reconstruction
and development of Vietnam, are always highly appreciated in
Vietnam.
A new stage in relations between the two countries began with
Vietnam's recognition of Azerbaijan's independence and the
establishment of diplomatic relations on September 23, 1992. In
2001, the Azerbaijani ambassador to China was appointed to Vietnam,
with his residence in Beijing. In 2009, the Vietnamese ambassador
to Russia was also accredited to Azerbaijan. The opening of the
Azerbaijani embassy in Vietnam in 2013 proved that our country
intends to restore and develop existing historical relations with
Vietnam.
President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, a worthy political
successor of the National Leader Heydar Aliyev, has always attached
special importance to relations with Vietnam, remaining faithful to
his political course. The state visit of President Ilham Aliyev to
Vietnam in 2014, and the official visit of President of Vietnam
Truong Tan Sang to Azerbaijan in 2015, laid the foundation for
close friendly and partnership relations between the two countries.
On May 7-8, 2025, the state visit of the Secretary General of the
Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam To Lam to
Azerbaijan took place.
The President and the Secretary General adopted the "Joint
Declaration on the Establishment of Strategic Partnership between
Azerbaijan and Vietnam". In addition, 10 documents in various
fields were signed between the countries. At the same time, the
opening ceremony of the Memorial Room dedicated to the 135th
anniversary of the birth of Ho Chi Minh, the founder of modern
Vietnam, and reflecting Vietnam-Azerbaijani cooperation took place
at the Azerbaijan State Oil and Industry University (ASOIU).
During the 44-day Second Karabakh War, on October 19, 2020, the
OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair countries proposed at the UN Security
Council to include in the draft statement of the Chairman of the
Security Council the resolutions (with their numbers) adopted in
1993 on the conflict by the seven members of the Non-Aligned
Movement (NAM), including Vietnam, in the final document, thereby
supporting Azerbaijan's fair position. In this regard, the
President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev addressed a letter of
gratitude to his Vietnamese counterpart.
Also, during the general debate organized on the theme "Better
together: 80 years and more for peace, development and human
rights" within the framework of the high-level week of the 80th
session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) on September 23-29, 2025,
Vietnam was among only eight states that directly referred to the
normalization process between Azerbaijan and Armenia in their
speeches.
In 2017, on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of diplomatic
relations, by the decision of the President of Azerbaijan, Director
General of Department for External Affairs of the Office of the
President of Vietnam, Vu Ha Le, and Nghiem Vu Khai (currently
Honorary Chairman of the Friendship Association), while serving as
Chairman of the Vietnam-Azerbaijan Friendship Association, were
awarded the "Taraggi" medal.
On October 19, 2018, with the support of the Heydar Aliyev
Foundation named after the National Leader, a primary school was
built in Giap Trung settlement of the Ha Giang province of
Vietnam.
On September 23, 2022, the 30th anniversary of the establishment
of diplomatic relations between Azerbaijan and Vietnam was
celebrated, and congratulatory letters were exchanged between the
heads of state, foreign ministers, and parliament speakers.
In order to support the elimination of the consequences of the
severe Typhoon Yagi that struck Vietnam on September 7-8, 2024,
Azerbaijan allocated $200,000 in financial assistance to Vietnam
through the Azerbaijan International Development Agency (AIDA).
In order to eliminate the damage caused by the flood disasters
that occurred in Vietnam from September through October 2025,
Azerbaijan provided $100,000 in financial assistance.
On March 18, 2026, the opening of a new building of the Chan Phu
School, which will accommodate 1,400 students, was held in Luc Yen
settlement, Lao Cai province (before Yen Bai province) in
northeastern Vietnam, with the support of Azerbaijan, in order to
eliminate the consequences of Typhoon Yagi.
As can be seen, Azerbaijan-Vietnam relations, founded by
National Leader Heydar Aliyev, have entered a new stage of
development today under the leadership of President Ilham Aliyev.
This is a clear manifestation of the friendly relations between the
two countries based on mutual trust.
