Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) Disarmament Database

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Country Profile: Vietnam

BASIC FACTS

Viet Nam is a Member Country of the NAM Movement since 1976.

The Socialist Republic of Viet Nam is located in Southeast Asia, bordering Thailand, China, Laos, and Cambodia. Vietnamese territory was ruled by a series of imperial dynasties until French colonization in the mid-19th century. The process of gaining independence involved splitting Vietnam between North and South, defeating the French in the First Indochina War in 1945, and then ultimately combatting the United States in the Vietnam War until North Vietnamese victory in 1975. The country was reunified under a socialist government in 1976 and has continued to expand diplomatic relations with other countries since the Communist Party reforms of the 1980s.

Capital: Hanoi

There are no nuclear power plants or research reactors in Viet Nam. From the mid-1990s the Vietnamese government was considering the construction of a nuclear power plant in partnership with Russia and Japan, but in 2016 nuclear plans were deferred in favor of gas and coal facilities. However, it is worth noting that in 2022, the industry and trade minister referred to the development of nuclear power as the “inevitable trend” for Vietnam, and there are ongoing plans for nuclear power plants.

TREATIES AND INTERNATIONAL ORGANISATIONS

  • IAEA Membership (1957)  

  • Treaty on the Southeast Asia Nuclear Weapon-Free Zone (Bangkok Treaty) (1997) 

  • Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin Weapons and on Their Destruction (BTWC) (1975) 

  • Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material (CPPNM) (1987) 

  • Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on Their Destruction (CWC) (1997) 

  • Protocol for the Prohibition of the Use in War of Asphyxiating, Poisonous or Other Gases, and of Bacteriological Methods of Warfare (Geneva Protocol) (1928) 

  • International Convention for the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism (ICSANT) (2007) 

  • Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) (1970)  

  • Treaty Banning Nuclear Weapon Tests in the Atmosphere, in Outer Space and under Water (Partial Test Ban Treaty) (1963)  

  • Treaty on the Prohibition of the Emplacement of Nuclear Weapons and Other Weapons of Mass Destruction on the Sea-Bed and the Ocean Floor and in the Subsoil Thereof (Sea-Bed Treaty) (1972)  

  • Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) (2014) 

  • The Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM) (2010)  

  • Convention on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons Which May Be Deemed to Be Excessively Injurious or to Have Indiscriminate Effects (CCW) (1983) 

  • Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on Their Destruction (Mine Ban Convention) (1999)  

  • Treaty on Open Skies (2002) 

  • Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies (Outer Space Treaty) (1967) 

  • Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) (ratified - 2006)  

  • Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (signed - 2018) 

 

REGIONAL GROUPS

  • Member of the Conference on Disarmament 

  • Member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) 

  • Member of G-77

  • Member of East Asia Summit  


        AGREEMENTS (In Force): 

  • Agreement on the Privileges and Immunities of the IAEA (1969)  

  • Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material (2012)  

  • Amendment to the Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material (2016)  

  • Convention on Early Notification of a Nuclear Accident (1987) 

  • Convention on Assistance in the Case of a Nuclear Accident or Radiological Emergency (1987) 

  • Convention on Nuclear Safety (2010) 

  • Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management (2014) 

  • Revised Supplementary Agreements Concerning the Provision of Technical Assistance by the IAEA (1983) 

  • Regional Co-operative Agreement for Research, Development and Training Related to Nuclear Science and Technology, 2017 (2017) 

  • Agreement between the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam and the IAEA for the application of safeguards in connection with the NPT (1990) 

  • Protocol Additional to the Agreement between the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam and the IAEA for the Application of Safeguards in Connection with the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (2012) 

 

LINKS