Economic diplomacy to be promoted to support development and integration

A profound shift

In 2022, Deputy Minister Vu said the diplomatic sector quickly shifted its focus from vaccine diplomacy to economic diplomacy for the purpose of national recovery and development. Accordingly, economic diplomacy was strongly promoted, becoming the central task of the whole sector as well as of all 94 Vietnamese representative offices abroad.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, working in collaboration with relevant ministries, agencies, and localities, concretised the Resolution adopted at the 13th National Party Congress in relation to economic diplomacy for national development until 2030.

The diplomatic sector, alongside other agencies, helped deepen Vietnamese relations with other countries, especially in the fields of economics, trade, and investment. Economic cooperation became the focal point in meetings and talks between Vietnamese Party and State leaders and their foreign counterparts in order to take full advantage of all opportunities and resources for the purpose of development.

The sector made practical contributions to promoting international economic integration and linkages, whilst promptly taking advantage of attracting external resources, especially green finance, investment in energy transformation, and investment in high-tech industries to boost development.

Typically, Vu said the group of seven industrialised nations (G7), Europe, and Vietnam made a political declaration on the ‘Just Energy Transition Partnership’ (JETP) with a committed initial investment of US$15.5 billion. Denmark’s Lego Group broke ground on the world’s first carbon-neutral factory with a total investment of US$1.3 billion in Binh Duong, whilst Samsung inaugurated a US$220 million research and development centre in Hanoi.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs also supported the effective implementation of 15 signed free trade agreements (FTAs), and made recommendations for the country to promptly engage in international economic integration initiatives in order to take full advantage of resources for development.

Last year witnessed the diplomatic sector and the system of Vietnamese representative offices abroad build on opportunities, promote connections, and support Vietnamese localities and enterprises in boosting exports. This efforts served to attract further investment, expand economic cooperation with foreign partners, and open new markets, noted the diplomat.

International commitments

According to the Deputy Minister, Vietnam is one of the leading developing countries which has strong commitment to green and digital transformation. The net-zero emissions commitment made at the 26th UN Conference on Climate Change (COP 26), on the one hand requires great efforts by the country, but on the other hand also opens up fresh opportunities to build linkages between the nation and international partners.

Currently, international organisations, multilateral mechanisms, and development partners all give high priority and pool plenty of resources to implement green transition, energy transition, innovation, and digital transformation. Following that trend, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and relevant ministries and agencies tried to promote cooperation with partners both bilaterally and multilaterally in order to maximise the attraction of external resources, along with domestic resources, for the implementation of national strategies relating to green and digital transformation.

Digital economic cooperation was also highlighted in high-level foreign affairs activities, with a specific focus on attracting investment, training human resources, and improving management capacity. Many international partners such as the World Economic Forum (WEF) expressed willingness to cooperate alongside Vietnam on digital skills, the establishment of the Industrial Revolution 4.0 Center, and other initiatives.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs will continue to closely work alongside relevant ministries and sectors to further promote ties in these fields in order to pool more external resources for the transformation of the domestic growth model, and at the same time to support the Government’s goal of building an independent and self-reliant economy that is associated with extensive and comprehensive international integration, said Deputy Minister Vu.

What to do

The Party Secretariat on August 10, 2022, issued a directive that identifies economic diplomacy as a basic and central task of Vietnamese diplomacy, an important driving force for rapid and sustainable development of the country as a whole, whilst playing a pioneering role in mobilising external resources.

The directive confirms the special importance of economic diplomacy moving forward, stressed the Deputy Minister.

To implement this directive, he said the Prime Minister directly chaired a conference to promote economic diplomacy in service of national development in September 2022, as well as a conference to summarise vaccine diplomacy and lessons to step up economic diplomacy in the new context in November 2022.

To ramp up economic diplomacy moving forward, Deputy Minister Vu said the diplomatic sector will steadfastly and consistently implement the country’s foreign policy of independence, self-reliance, multilateralisation, and diversification of international relations under the motto ‘Vietnam is a friend, a reliable and responsible partner of the international community’.

It will pay closer attention to research, forecasts, and policy advice as a means of grasping the situation, as well as introducing timely, appropriate, and drastic solutions for implementation of assigned tasks. It will focus on renewing methods to suit the new situation for the sake of the nation and people, while bringing into play the activeness and creativity of Vietnamese representative agencies overseas.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Vietnamese representative missions abroad will also continue to do their best to carry out economic diplomacy for development, assured Deputy Minister Vu.