President Anura Kumara Dissanayake joined visiting Vietnamese President Tô Lâm at a floral tribute ceremony at the statue of Ho Chi Minh on the premises of the Colombo Public Library on Friday, the closing public event of the Vietnamese leader’s two-day state visit.
Tô Lâm, who is also General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam, was accompanied by Dissanayake throughout the ceremony. Both presidents then marked the commencement of expansion work on the “Viet Nam–Ho Chi Minh Space,” a dedicated cultural area inside the library complex donated by Hanoi as a symbol of bilateral solidarity.
The visit, which began on May 7, produced the most substantive Sri Lanka–Vietnam outcomes in more than a decade. The two governments agreed a $1 billion bilateral trade target by 2030 and signed five memoranda of understanding spanning trade, agriculture, customs cooperation and direct air connectivity, with Vietnam Airlines and VietJet Air announcing direct Colombo–Ho Chi Minh City and Colombo–Hanoi flights.
Tô Lâm arrived at Bandaranaike International Airport on Wednesday night leading a 209-member delegation that included senior ministers and business leaders. On Thursday, he addressed the Sri Lankan parliament — the first foreign leader to do so in 11 years.
The library tribute closes a state visit framed by both governments as the deepening of ties marking the 55th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Colombo and Hanoi. The Ho Chi Minh statue at the Colombo Public Library has stood as a long-running symbol of the relationship; the expansion project is intended to broaden the cultural footprint of the existing Vietnam-themed reading and exhibition space.
