President of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam, Tô Lâm, addressed the Sri Lankan Parliament on Friday — the first foreign head of state to address the chamber in 11 years.
Secretary General of Parliament Kushani Rohanadeera said the last foreign leader to do so was Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2015, and that all honours accorded to a head of state were arranged for the visiting Vietnamese President at a special parliamentary ceremony.
President Tô Lâm arrived at Parliament at approximately 11:05 a.m., where he was formally welcomed by the Speaker of Parliament, Dr. Jagath Wickramaratne, following a street parade conducted by the tri-forces. Members of Parliament, ambassadors and other dignitaries attended the ceremony before the address. The House was scheduled to take up seven Private Members’ Motions for debate from 1.30 p.m. to 5.30 p.m. after the proceedings.
The address came at the close of a two-day state visit during which Sri Lanka and Vietnam signed five Memoranda of Understanding and agreed to expand bilateral trade to US$1 billion by 2030. The Cabinet had approved the five MoUs on May 5, covering information and communication technology; cultural cooperation between Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Buddha Sasana, Religious and Cultural Affairs and Vietnam’s Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism; religious cooperation; science and technology; and police training between the Sri Lanka National Police Training Institute and Vietnam’s People’s Police Training Institute.
The visit was undertaken at the invitation of President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, extended during his state visit to Vietnam in 2025, in commemoration of the 55th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries. Tô Lâm arrived in Colombo on Wednesday night accompanied by a 209-member delegation following a state tour of India.
According to the President’s Media Division, the visit assumed added significance as it took place at a time when Sri Lanka is steadily progressing towards economic stability under the present government. Vietnam recorded GDP growth of 7.1% in 2024 and 7.85% in the first nine months of 2025, with full-year 2025 GDP of about US$514 billion. The Tô Lâm visit follows the state visit of Maldives President Muizzu on May 3, continuing a string of high-level diplomatic engagements in early May.
