Hanoi (VNA) – Deputy Prime Minister Pham Thi Thanh Tra has asked for stronger inter-agency coordination to improve the effectiveness of foreign affairs and international integration in culture, society, education and training, with a focus on concrete outcomes and long-term national interests.
Tra, who is also head of the inter-sectoral working committee on foreign affairs and international integration in culture, society, education and training, made the request while chairing its first meeting on October 22.
The committee operates under the Central Steering Committee for Foreign Affairs and International Integration, with the Party Committee of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism serving as its supporting and standing body.
Speaking at the meeting, Tra asked ministries and sectors to review all foreign affairs tasks scheduled through December 31, 2026, distinguishing major strategic activities requiring inter-agency coordination from the individual external affairs activities of each unit to avoid overlap.
Member agencies must promptly formulate their 2027 cooperation plans, specifying tasks, objectives and deliverables, and submit them to the standing agency for reporting to the Central Steering Committee by November 30, 2026, she said.
For key inter-sectoral activities, ministries must prepare budget estimates for consolidation by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and submission to the Ministry of Finance and the Central Steering Committee for resource allocation.
Setting out priorities for 2027-2030, Tra outlined three strategic task groups, beginning with a review and improvement of institutions and policies to enhance coordination and integration effectiveness, safeguard strategic autonomy and national capacity, and protect sovereignty, including in culture, education and training. She noted that policies must also keep pace with emerging global trends such as artificial intelligence, big data, the digital economy and the circular economy, while ensuring preparations for major international events hosted by Vietnam, including APEC Year 2027.
Another priority is to review international treaties, trade agreements, strategic partnership agreements and memoranda of understanding, following General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee and President To Lam's direction to turn international commitments into development resources. The review should be completed in the first quarter of 2027, with a focus on substantive cooperation, stronger national and UNESCO-related branding, expanded Vietnamese Studies programmes and the elimination of ineffective or merely formal activities.
The remaining task is to develop initiatives for multilateral forums, including ASEAN, the United Nations, UNESCO, the International Labour Organisation, UNICEF and the World Health Organisation, to raise Vietnam’s international standing and mobilise social resources for development. Ministries and sectors must prepare initiatives reflecting Vietnam’s distinctive contributions ahead of the upcoming visit by the UNESCO Director-General, helping advance the International Decade of Culture for Sustainable Development, Tra said.
Tra also instructed member agencies to strictly implement the committee’s operational regulations, assign dedicated staff to support its work and strengthen external communications.
Addressing the event, Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Lam Thi Phuong Thanh said the ministry would select suitable heritage sites for digitisation, standardise data and develop multilingual content to serve preservation, research, education, tourism and the promotion of Vietnam’s image. She stressed that accurate, reliable data would help domestic audiences, international visitors and overseas Vietnamese access authentic information about the country and its people.
She also stressed the need to link international cooperation with human resource development, strengthen ties between educational institutions and businesses, and mobilise overseas Vietnamese experts, intellectuals, artists and entrepreneurs.
Bui Hoai Son, deputy head of the Party Central Committee’s Commission for Publicity, proposed promoting Vietnamese studies programmes in selected countries and facilitating international partnerships among higher education institutions to showcase Vietnam’s culture and history and enhance its soft power. He also called for greater use of overseas Vietnamese resources, international recognition of prominent Vietnamese historical figures, and the implementation of action programmes under UNESCO’s Creative Cities Network./.
VNA
