The directive by General Secretary and State President Lam reflects a shift in Vietnam’s development mindset, in line with the Politburo’s Resolution 57-NQ/TW dated December 22, 2024 on breakthroughs in sci-tech, innovation and national digital transformation. For the first time, sci-tech has been placed at the very centre as a driver of growth model.
Foreign relations are no longer viewed simply as relations with the outside world but as an integral component of national comprehensive strength and a responsibility shared by the entire Party, people, armed forces and political system.
Vina Nadjibulla, former Vice President for Research and Strategy at the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada, credited pragmatic diplomacy with allowing Vietnam to build relationships with a range of partners without becoming overly dependent on any single country. That approach, she noted, has become more relevant as major-power rivalry heats up, the global economy fragments, and pressure mounts on countries to pick sides.
Opening the event, Politburo member and Minister of Foreign Affairs Le Hoai Trung said Vietnam is entering a new era of development in which foreign affairs and international integration is a crucial and regular task, contributing to maintaining a peaceful and stable environment, mobilising external resources and enhancing the country's international standing.
Through two discussions, participants focused on identifying Vietnam’s international cooperation needs in science, technology, innovation and digital transformation, as well as opportunities, priority partners and measures to enhance the role of the diplomatic sector and Vietnamese representative missions abroad.
Citing Party General Secretary and State President To Lam’s assertion that diplomacy is now a component of national comprehensive strength, Binh dissected Party diplomacy’s strategic role across three levels, including building the political foundation for the broader diplomatic landscape, feeding policy formulation, and safeguarding ideological footing and strategic autonomy.
Party diplomacy has made breakthroughs in expanding and deepening relations with political parties around the world, helping consolidate political foundations and orient State-level relations. Meanwhile, people-to-people diplomacy has seen positive changes in its thinking, content and methods, with an expanding network of partners and more active and substantive participation in regional and international people-to-people mechanisms.
For Party diplomacy, the goal is to provide more proactive policy advice, build higher political trust, deepen relations, make cooperation more practical and ensure stronger implementation, with concrete contributions to national development as the highest measure of success.
Party General Secretary and State President To Lam's reception for ASEAN ambassadors and chargés d'affaires, Prime Minister Le Minh Hung's attendance at the 33rd Diplomatic Conference, and proposals on the establishment of Quang Ninh, Bac Ninh cities to be submitted to the legislature are among news highlights on August 5 evening.
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, said Prime Minister Le Minh Hung.
Speaking on the occasion of the 33rd Diplomatic Conference, ambassadors from Laos, Japan, the Philippines, China and South Africa highlighted Vietnam's growing international standing, its foreign policy of independence and self-reliance, and its commitment to peace, cooperation and sustainable development.
Against the backdrop of rapid and profound global changes, the ministers said stronger coordination is essential to support the country's goal of achieving fast and sustainable development while safeguarding national interests and protecting the nation early and from afar.
Addressing the conference, Minister of Foreign Affairs Le Hoai Trung emphasised the role of local foreign affairs in realising the nation’s development goal, affirming that the national target of achieving 10% growth is a substantive requirement, with local foreign affairs playing an important role in realising this goal.
By upholding the tradition of Vietnam’s revolutionary diplomacy and bringing into full play collective wisdom, mettle and sense of responsibility, the entire diplomatic sector and external relations forces will remain united, proactive and creative in successfully fulfilling their tasks, contributing to maintaining peace, safeguarding the Fatherland, expanding development space and enhancing Vietnam’s international standing.
The 33rd Diplomatic Conference officially opened in Hanoi on August 1, with presentations from ministries, central agencies and local authorities offering in-depth analysis of practical developments and proposing breakthrough solutions across a wide range of sectors, contributing to the country's diplomatic agenda in a new era of development.
Vietnam must consistently pursue its foreign policy of independence, self-reliance, self-strengthening, peace, friendship, cooperation and development, and diversification and multilateralisation of external relations, while promoting deep, comprehensive and effective international integration to safeguard the national interests to the fullest extent.
To effectively carry out top leader To Lam's directions, the diplomatic sector’s first and most fundamental step is to further improve awareness and professional capacity across all spheres. Diplomats must gain a deep understanding of the Party's and the State's directions, fully grasp the country's development requirements in the current context, and stay abreast of new demands arising from the rapidly changing international environment.
Vietnamese diplomacy is entering an important transition, shifting from expanding relations and enhancing the country’s international standing to mobilising resources for national development in the new era, said Vietnamese Ambassador to the US Nguyen Quoc Dung.
A good diplomat must first have firm political mettle and always take national interests as the compass for action. Every foreign affairs official must remember that behind them stand the Party, the country and the people, stressed Party General Secretary and State President To Lam.
The Vietnamese Embassy in Israel will continue to place economic and science-technology diplomacy at the centre of its activities, while promoting Party-to-Party and people-to-people diplomacy to strengthen the political and social foundation for bilateral relations. These efforts will contribute to further developing Vietnam-Israel ties in a substantive, effective and sustainable manner, matching the potential and aspirations of both countries.