Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc assigned five political missions to the diplomatic sector in Hanoi on August 27, while addressing an event marking its 75th anniversary (August 28, 1945).

PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc speaks at the conference 

The first is to promote Vietnam’s relations with foreign partners in a deeper and more effective, stable, and sustainable manner based on the Party’s principles and foreign policies, while balancing ties, especially with powers, strategic partners, and comprehensive partners.

The second is to intensify economic diplomacy, contributing to socio-economic recovery, facilitating locality-to-locality connections and links between businesses with foreign partners and new markets, and attracting high-quality foreign direct investment, creating growth momentum to overcome the COVID-19 crisis.

Added to this is to proactively integrate Vietnam into the world, promoting multilateral foreign relations, and being more flexible and creative to win the trust of international friends and protect the country’s development security interests, contributing to firmly safeguarding national independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity, and seas and islands.

The PM also ordered the diplomatic sector to improve research, consultation, and forecasting work, while enhancing exchanges with international friends to help them understand and support the country’s consistent views, especially on the East Sea issue.

He asked the sector to promote the image of Vietnam and its people to the world, as well as promptly and satisfactorily address citizen-related matters, thereby strengthening the great national unity and mobilising resources for national construction and defence.

The leader further said the diplomatic works have proved the sector’s pioneer role in consolidating an environment of peace and stability, thus facilitating the national construction and defence, attracting resources in service of the national development and unceasingly raising the country’s position.

He also spoke highly of the sector’s endeavours in the current COVID-19 fight and the country’s performance of the role of the Chair of ASEAN and a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, as well as the President of the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly.

Vietnam has set up external relations with 189 member nations of the UN and is building a network of 30 strategic partners and comprehensive partners, including 17 of the 20 G20 countries and all other ASEAN member states.

From a country following the subsidisation model, Vietnam has joined the WTO and signed and implemented many free trade agreements (FTAs), including new-generation, high-quality, and comprehensive deals such as the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) and the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).