Vietnam establishes diplomatic relations with Tuvalu, completing ties with all UN member states

According to the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the signing ceremony for the joint communiqué took place on Wednesday at the headquarters of Vietnam’s Permanent Mission to the UN in New York.

Vietnam’s Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs Le Hoai Trung and Tuvalu’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Labor and Trade Paulson Panapa signed the document to formalize relations between the two countries.

With this milestone, Vietnam has become one of the few nations in the world to have diplomatic relations with all 193 UN member states.

Following the signing, the two officials discussed directions to promote future cooperation, highlighting the establishment of ties as a historic step that lays the foundation for bilateral collaboration.

They agreed to continue exchanges and foster cooperation in areas of mutual potential, including maritime economy, tourism, and education, while also strengthening coordination at multilateral forums where both countries are members.

On this occasion, Trung invited Panapa to pay an official visit to Vietnam.

Tuvalu is a small island nation in the South Pacific, governed under a constitutional monarchy and parliamentary democracy.

The British monarch is the head of state, represented locally by a governor-general, while the prime minister serves as the head of government.

The country’s economy is modest and highly vulnerable to climate change, relying mainly on fishing—particularly tuna—and subsistence farming.

Tuvalu is a member of the UN, the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the Commonwealth, and several Pacific regional organizations.

Before establishing ties with Vietnam, a member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Tuvalu had diplomatic relations with 123 countries, including six other ASEAN members: Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, Thailand, Cambodia, and Indonesia.