On August 21, in Hanoi, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs kicked off the 18th national conference on external affairs with the theme "Improving the efficiency of the local foreign affairs for development and integration."Addressing the event, Director of the Foreign Ministry’s Department of External Affairs Nguyen Thanh Long said localities have well implemented bilateral cooperation as well as inter-regional and inter-provincial mechanisms with foreign partners.
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Pham Binh Minh said that we have not taken advantage of the integration opportunities to improve the quality of growth, capacity and competitiveness of the economy
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As a result of effective economic diplomatic efforts, the total foreign direct investment in Vietnam hit 51.53 billion USD, with several billion-USD projects in Thai Nguyen, Ho Chi Minh City, Dong Nai, Bac Ninh, Binh Duong and Khanh Hoa.
Nearly 300 million USD funded by non-governmental organisations is disbursed nationwide each year. Cooperation with localities in other countries has also opened up business opportunities in hi-tech agriculture, renewable energy and climate change response.
Over the past two years, provinces and cities have coordinated with the Foreign Ministry to campaign successfully for UNESCO’s recognition of 10 cultural heritages. The localities have also licensed more than 1,100 foreign reporters to cover Vietnam’s socio-economic developments, and attracted remittances worth over 26 billion USD.
Nearly 3,600 firms run by overseas Vietnamese are operating in 52 out of 63 cities and provinces, predominantly in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Phu Tho, Ba Ria - Vung Tau, Hai Phong, Nghe An, Long An and An Giang.
Director Nguyen Thanh Long underscored the role of Vietnamese representative agencies abroad in promoting economic integration of localities back home, saying that they should serve as a bridge to help localities connect with foreign partners. He also urged local governments to maintain close ties with the Foreign Ministry and representative Vietnamese agencies abroad.
Delegates were attending the Conference
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The conference will seek to deal with fresh opportunities and challenges stemming from the global area and the country’s strategic areas as these are affecting directly the national interests and growth. Since maintaining a peaceful and stable environment for national development will continue to be the diplomats’ key tasks, the conference aims to adopt a comprehensive change in the mindset of running external activities, especially the thought of using diplomacy to spur the country’s growth.
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Pham Binh Minh stressed that the 18th National Conference on External Relations will enable localities nationwide to keep up with overall developments in the region and beyond so they would together devise measures to carry out external activities in a uniform manner from central to grassroots levels.
Looking back the country’s external work and international integration over the years, he stated that the external work has contributed to maintaining the peaceful and stable environment favourable for development and deepening the relations with other countries in a result-oriented manner. The work has also contributed greatly to efforts to accomplish the national socio-economic development goals, and firmly defend the national security as well as territorial, islands and sea sovereignty.
The diplomatic sector “has proactively joined in building and shaping a common playing rule” on the multilateral stage while defending and promoting effectively the country’s strategic security and development interests, and proving the country as “a responsible member of the international community,” Minh elaborated.
Guidelines and policies have been adopted to support Overseas Vietnamese in securing their legal status, through which the national unity bloc has been reinforced and more resources have been rallied for the national development, he said.
Moving forward, the 29th Diplomatic Conference will seek to set international integration as the cause of the entire people and the whole political system. It will outline approaches and measures to deepen the country’s relationship with other countries, especially prioritized partners, in a sustainable fashion, on the basis of international law, equality, mutual benefit, thus safeguarding the nation’s supreme interests.
He stressed that the conference will define the diplomatic sector’s future contributions to implementing productively the extensive international integration to create opportunities spurring the country’s economic capacity and aggregate strength to pursue a comprehensive reform for people’s quality living standards.
The diplomatic sector will seek to work closely with the defence and public security forces in protecting the country’s independence, sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity, along with ensuring the living environment is peaceful and stable for development and the socialist regime. Multilateral diplomacy will become one of the pillars of the external work in the coming years, Minh said in conclusion.
