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.
