Hanoi (VNA) – Prime Minister Le Minh Hung has called on the foreign affairs sector to strengthen its role in supporting national development by adopting more innovative thinking and drastic action for tangible results.
Addressing a plenary session of the 33rd Diplomatic Conference in Hanoi on August 4, the PM said diplomacy has played an important role in safeguarding a peaceful and stable environment, creating favourable external conditions for enhancing Vietnam's international standing.
The Government leader said the sector, together with the political system, has built a comprehensive framework of external relations, providing a solid political and legal foundation for Vietnam to maintain independence, self-reliance, proactive and flexible implementation of its foreign policy within a changing global landscape.
He noted that diplomacy has also contributed to mobilising external resources, expanding markets, attracting investment, and promoting sci-tech and innovation, thereby supporting productivity gains, economic restructuring and sustainable development.
As Vietnam enters a new stage of development, PM Hung urged the sector to adopt a results-oriented approach, with development outcomes as a key measure of performance. He said diplomacy should help the country achieve double-digit economic growth and avoid the middle-income trap. He highlighted three main priorities for the sector.
First, diplomacy should move beyond just paving the way to accompanying businesses and localities through to implementation and concrete results. The responsibility of officials involved in economic diplomacy should not end with the signing of agreements, but extend until commitments are fulfilled, projects receive the necessary approvals, investments are disbursed, and the projects become operational.
Second, the sector should move beyond attracting resources to transforming them into long-term development capacity by linking investment with technology transfer, workforce training and stronger domestic enterprises. Diplomacy should also help attract core and strategic technologies, develop critical infrastructure and encourage overseas Vietnamese and international talent to participate in national innovation programmes.
Third, it should help Vietnam move from participating in global rule-making to shaping emerging standards on areas such as the environment, labour, data, artificial intelligence and supply chains, turning external challenges into new development opportunities. The PM also instructed the foreign affairs sector to strengthen Party building, safeguard political security, improve strategic research and forecasting, consolidate traditional markets while expanding into new ones, make better use of free trade agreements, support Vietnamese businesses in joining global value chains and promote high-value national brands.
He called for stronger efforts to attract investment linked to technology transfer and innovation, increase localisation, develop new growth models such as international financial centres, the marine economy and modern capital markets, and strengthen science and technology diplomacy. The sector should also establish partnerships with leading technology partners, help domestic enterprises access strategic technologies, promote research and development, form new production forces, and pilot the appointment of technology ambassadors and special envoys.
The PM urged the entire diplomatic sector to embrace the Government's guiding principle of "action, action and more action; work, work and more work," turning determination into action to successfully deliver on all assigned tasks.
Delegates at the session discussed measures to deepen cooperation with key partners, expand export markets, strengthen science-technology diplomacy, attract high-quality investment, ensure energy security, enhance the position of Vietnamese agricultural products in global value chains, implement the Go Global programme and improve coordination between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, overseas missions, local authorities and businesses.
Speaking at the session, which drew more than 500 participants, Minister of Foreign Affairs Le Hoai Trung said that during 2024–2025, Vietnam's overseas representative missions organised more than 1,200 trade, investment and tourism promotion activities, supported over 550 local connectivity initiatives and helped facilitate around 230 cooperation agreements with international partners. Economic diplomacy, science-technology diplomacy, and energy diplomacy have shifted from promotion to practical support, helping expand markets, attract resources and technology, strengthen economic security and respond more effectively to crises
He pledged that the ministry will promptly translate the PM’s directions into concrete action programmes under the spirit of "breakthrough thinking, decisive action and tangible results." He called on domestic units and overseas missions to improve strategic forecasting, strengthen inter-agency coordination, expand business support, and continue playing a pioneering role in market expansion, resource mobilisation, science-technology, innovation and digital transformation.
On the occasion, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs handed over the Government's Emulation Flag, the Prime Minister's Certificates of Merit and the Foreign Minister's Certificates of Merit to organisations with outstanding achievements in coordinating development-focused foreign affairs activities./.
