HANOI: Vietnam’s General Secretary and President To Lam (pic) will deliver the keynote address at Asia’s top security summit this year, giving the South-East Asian leader a high-profile opporunity to address long-standing territorial tensions with Beijing in the South China Sea.
Lam will speak at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore on May 29, according to the organiser, International Institute for Strategic Studies. The annual forum usually draws top military and defence officials from across the world.
"To Lam takes up the presidency of Vietnam at a time of enormous global turbulence, the ripple effects of which are being felt across the Asia-Pacific,” IISS director-general Bastian Giegerich said in a statement.
"In his very first weeks in office, he has made a commitment to share Vietnam’s perspectives as an emerging strategic powerhouse.” - Bloomberg
