March 25, 2007: During the Salvador Allende administration, diplomatic relations between Vietnam and Chile were established, the trade office opened and then upgraded to the level of Embassy on June 1, 1972. However, the bilateral relations were interrupted since September, 1973 after the coup d'état took place in Chile.

In September, 1990, Chile requested Vietnam to resume diplomatic ties at Ambassadorial level and Vietnam re-opened its Embassy in Santiago (October, 2003). Chile named a Honorary Consul (July, 2001) and re-established the Embassy in Hanoi (October, 2004).

Exchange of delegations: The high level visits to Chile were led by Vice Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs Nguyen Manh Cam (September, 1999), Prime Minister Phan Van Khai (October, 2002), President Tran Duc Luong (November, 2004) and Secretary General Nong Duc Manh (May, 2007); the Chilean delegations that havevisited Vietnam are: President Ricardo Lagos (October, 2003), President Michelle Bachelet on the occasion of the APEC 14 (November, 2006), Vice President of the House of Representatives Mario Rios (July, 2000), Deputy Minister of Foreign Relations H. Muñoz  (October, 2000), Deputy President of Senate Mario Rios (September, 2001), and Minister of Foreign Relations Ignacio Walker (January, 2006). 

- Vietnam and Chile have signed a number of Agreements such as: Agreement on Economic-Trade Cooperation (November, 1993), Agreement for Investment Promotion and Protection, Agreement on the Political Consultation and Cooperation between the two Ministries of Foreign Affairs (September, 1999), MOU on Cultural and Educational Cooperation (December, 2000); Agreement on Cooperation of Health, Animal and Quarantine, Protocol on Mining Cooperation, Agreement on Cooperation between the Chambers of Commerce and Industry (October, 2002); Agreement on Visa exemption for holders of diplomatic and official passports (October, 2003), Agreement on Fisheries; Protocol on Negotiations on Scientific and Technological Cooperation Agreement (November, 2004); Agreement on Tourism (January, 2006), Agreement on Scientific and Technological Cooperation and an MOU on the establishment of the Intergovernmental Committee between Vietnam and Chile (May, 2007), Protocol on establishment of the Joint Working Groups to negotiate the bilateral Free Trade Agreement that leads to the establishment of "the Intergovernmental Committee" (November, 2006). Chile rendered its support to Vietnam's entry into ECOSOC (October, 1997) and APEC (1998), signing an Agreement on Finalizing the bilateral negotiations of Vietnam's entry into WTO, strongly supporting Vietnam to become a Non-Permanent Member of UNSC for the 2008-2009 term. During a meeting between the Heads of State on the sideline of APEC 15 held in Sidney (September, 2007), Chile announced its recognition of the market economy status for Vietnam and agreed to resume the negotiations on the Bilateral Free Trade Agreement. The Quiñenco Company, belonging to Luksic Corporations, after being licensed, was inaugurated in Vietnam (November, 2006).

The bilateral trade turnovers are as following:(source: The Ministry of Trade of Vietnam)

(*) According to Chilean source, in 2004, the bilateral trade amounted to 60 million USD.

Vietnam main exports to Chile are footwear, garment, coal, electronics, rice, wooden products, rubber and handicrafts and imports include pulp, wood, fish flour, copper, grapes and wine.