Speaking at a plenary session on Party and people-to-people diplomacy held in Hanoi as part of the 33rd Diplomatic Conference, Tu stressed that Vietnam’s diplomacy has made important contributions throughout different historical periods, helping maintain a peaceful and stable environment, safeguard national independence, sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity, mobilise external resources for development, and enhance the country’s international stature.
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.
According to the leader, the 14th National Party Congress identified foreign affairs as a “key and regular task.” The Politburo’s strategic resolutions on foreign affairs and international integration have concretised the foreign policy orientations set out by the Congress. The requirements and tasks in the new situation require deeper awareness, stronger determination, more vigorous innovation, and greater proactiveness and creativity.
He called for thorough and effective implementation of the six key tasks outlined by Party General Secretary and State President To Lam at the opening session of the 33rd Diplomatic Conference, with a focus on strategic issues.
He stressed the need to shift from primarily expanding relations to improving their quality, effectiveness and added value, with concrete outcomes serving as a measure of performance.
Party and people-to-people diplomacy should take a more proactive role in strengthening political trust and international consensus, while helping identify and address at an early stage risks that could affect national interests. Greater efforts should also be made to connect Vietnam with priority partners in high-quality human resources development, innovation, digital transformation, rapid and sustainable development, responses to non-traditional security challenges, Party building and improving national governance capacity.
He underlined the importance of closely coordinating the three pillars of Vietnam’s comprehensive diplomacy – Party diplomacy, State diplomacy and people-to-people diplomacy. Each has its own role, mission, target groups and methods, but all must work towards the common goal of promoting the country’s overall strength and effectively realising national foreign policy objectives.
Regarding Party diplomacy, Tu called for further deepening ties with political parties, particularly ruling parties in neighbouring countries, influential parties in major powers and parties in countries with which Vietnam has established cooperation frameworks. He urged flexible and effective use of high-level meetings, strategic dialogues, political consultations, theory exchanges, cadre training and multilateral mechanisms.
For people-to-people diplomacy, he called for a shift from friendship exchanges and advocacy towards connecting interests and creating sustainable cooperation opportunities. He also urged stronger participation in regional and international networks and mechanisms, greater involvement of localities, businesses, citizens and overseas Vietnamese, and closer links between people-to-people diplomacy and local-level cooperation.
He further stressed the need to strengthen external information work, improve Vietnam’s international image, and promote innovation, professionalism and comprehensive digital transformation in people-to-people diplomacy.
Tu also called for building a pure and strong Party organisation within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and developing a professional diplomatic workforce with firm political mettle, strong expertise and credibility. He said national interests must remain the guiding principle, while greater attention should be paid to training specialists in key geographical areas and emerging fields and to attracting and effectively using talent.
