Viet Nam seems to have managed all aspects of its perception quite well. Especially the integration and alignment of its nation brand and the brands from the country, according to Samir Dixit, Managing Director, Brand Finance Asia Pacific.

The Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc approved the Viet Nam National Brand Program from 2020 to 2030, which aims to increase the value and rankings of the nation brand while targeting over 1,000 products to become strong national brands. The brands from the country are managed through specific efforts and initiatives undertaken by Vietrade, under their nation mark program “Viet Nam Value”, he added.

At a national level, Viet Nam had established diplomatic relations with 187 out of 193 member states of the United Nations and completed the process of negotiating and signing new-generation FTAs - including the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) and the EU-Viet Nam Free Trade Agreement - making the country an important factor in all regional and intra-regional economic links, which is a booster for Viet Nam’s imports and exports.

Vu Ba Phu, Director General, Viet Nam Trade Promotion Agency, Ministry of Industry and Trade said soft power stems from not only the inheritance and promotion of its own values – including the heroic history, tradition, culture, and peace-loving foreign policy - but also the development and optimization of its new position and advantage.

In the difficult context of 2020, the successful “dual role” performance of Viet Nam, as both ASEAN President and non-permanent member of the UN Security Council, is a testament to the harmonious application of soft power in Viet Nam’s multilateral and bilateral diplomatic relations, said Phu.

Viet Nam is one of the most open economies in the world, with the ratio of trade to GDP increasing from 136% in 2010 to approximately 200% in 2019.

Amid COVID-19 shutdowns, causing outputs to slump in early 2020, Viet Nam was among a very few number of countries to achieve positive GDP growth - of nearly 3%./.