7 key tasks of the diplomatic sector, promoting the spirit of service, taking the locality as the center of service

Deputy Foreign Minister Le Thi Thu Hang answers questions about the results of the 32nd Diplomatic Conference and the 21st Foreign Affairs Conference.

Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Le Thi Thu Hang.

The 32nd Diplomatic Conference has just ended. Could you please tell us about the main results achieved at this Conference?

This 32nd Diplomatic Conference is of great significance, being the mid-term conference of the 13th Congress, therefore the Conference is of a “pivotal” nature in both context and content, marking a new stage of inheritance and development in foreign affairs. In that spirit, the Conference was held with 23 sessions, including 9 thematic sessions, over 300 comments and achieved 5 main results:

Firstly , the overall result is that the Conference has achieved high consensus in perception and action on foreign affairs results since the beginning of the term and the direction of implementation in the coming time.

At the Conference, General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong and Party and State leaders such as President Vo Van Thuong, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue, Standing member of the Secretariat Truong Thi Mai and Deputy Prime Minister Tran Luu Quang all assessed that foreign affairs work had "achieved important and historic achievements, an impressive highlight in the country's overall achievements" and gave comprehensive and profound guidance on foreign affairs work.

This is an important basis for defining key foreign affairs tasks and measures that need to be focused on implementing until the end of the 13th term and the following years, initially preparing content for the 14th Party Congress.

Second , the Conference thoroughly grasped the important resolutions, conclusions, directives, and projects on foreign affairs that the Party Central Committee, the Politburo, and the Secretariat have issued since the beginning of the term, as well as the major contents of the "Vietnamese bamboo" identity of foreign affairs and diplomacy.

Accordingly, the general spirit is: the world is facing a turning point to a new situation, multipolar, multi-center, multi-level, foreign affairs work needs to closely follow the foreign policy of the 13th National Party Congress, the directions of the Politburo, the Secretariat and the leaders of the Party and State, strongly promote the unique diplomatic identity of "Vietnamese bamboo", be steadfast in principles but flexible in strategies to best protect national interests.

Third , the Conference unanimously approved a resolution and action program with specific measures and directions, with innovative and creative contents, demonstrating the determination and highest efforts of the entire sector in implementing tasks in the spirit of the Conference, which is to "promote the pioneering role" in foreign affairs and "build a comprehensive, modern and strong diplomacy" in the work of building the sector.

Wednesday, The conference was conducted with the motto of “comprehensive, innovative, and substantive” . The conference emphasized a “comprehensive” approach to the discussion areas, including foreign affairs, industry building, and Party rectification. “Innovative” thinking, linking foreign affairs with new requirements; innovative organizational methods, focusing on constructive and democratic discussions. “Substantial” content, especially in terms of comments, assessments, and recommendations, each issue was analyzed comprehensively and multi-dimensionally to better understand both opportunities and challenges.

Fifth , the Conference spread an atmosphere of excitement and pride in the results and achievements of the diplomatic sector in recent times as well as the spirit of determination and innovation in the entire diplomatic sector and foreign affairs forces nationwide. The Conference also contributed to creating unity, consensus, and connection between foreign affairs forces and branches to create a combined strength in the spirit of direction of General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong "unanimity from top to bottom", unity of heart and mind, unity of effort to successfully implement the foreign policy of the 13th National Congress.

At the Conference, General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong gave very specific instructions, pointing out issues that need attention in foreign affairs and diplomacy in the coming time. Could you please tell us how the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will implement these instructions as well as the results achieved at the Conference?

The General Secretary's instructions were concretized in the Resolution and Action Program of the 32nd Diplomatic Conference, especially the major mottos and orientations on smoothly combining national strength with the strength of the times, being steadfast in principles and flexible in strategies, building a united, consensual, and strong team...

Thoroughly grasping those principles and imbued with the diplomatic identity of "Vietnamese bamboo", all cadres and party members of the diplomatic sector will focus on the following 7 key tasks:

Firstly, closely follow the Resolution and foreign policy of the 13th National Congress and the resolutions of the Central Committee, the leadership and direction of the Politburo, the Secretariat and the instructions of the Party and State leaders at the Conference, taking them as guidelines to implement tasks and as a measure to evaluate foreign affairs results by the end of the term.

Second, deepening the relationship into a more substantial and sustainable one, especially giving high priority to implementing the agreements and commitments that have been reached; expanding cooperation with Laos and Cambodia, promoting development momentum with China and the US, and stepping up practical cooperation with other important partners and traditional friends... thereby consolidating an open and favorable foreign policy situation.

Third, improve the quality and effectiveness of economic diplomacy in the direction of focusing on serving 03 strategic breakthroughs, advising on measures to respond to new issues; giving high priority to diversifying partners and markets through expanding the network of 16 FTAs ​​with 57 partners, attracting high-quality FDI and new-generation ODA, removing obstacles in cooperation...; connecting and supporting major transformation processes, especially digital transformation, green transformation, energy transformation...

Fourth , resolutely and persistently defend independence, sovereignty, territory, legitimate and legal rights and interests, but at the same time, in the spirit of "peace and friendship", seek and promote common ground to promote cooperation, minimize disagreements, and protect the homeland from afar.

The fifth is to raise the level and promote the role in multilateral diplomacy, especially organizing well activities at high-level events and successfully organizing events that Vietnam hosts; actively promoting the role in the mechanisms we are elected to in the United Nations, UNESCO, the Human Rights Council... and campaigning for candidacy in other mechanisms; contributing initiatives in specialized diplomatic fields such as food security, climate change, cultural heritage...

Sixth, comprehensively deploy work for overseas Vietnamese, protect citizens, implement great national unity and harmony, protect the rights and interests of overseas Vietnamese; innovate cultural diplomacy, foreign information, especially promote new fields and forms of diplomacy such as digital diplomacy, technology diplomacy, heritage diplomacy... to spread the values ​​and soft power of Vietnam.

Finally, it is necessary to complete the construction of a professional, comprehensive, modern, and strong diplomacy in terms of mechanisms, policies, laws, etc., as well as training and coaching cadres, strengthening political and ideological education, building and rectifying the Party; standardizing and gradually modernizing the facilities and headquarters of Vietnamese representative agencies abroad.

Please tell us about the ideas and proposals that you like the most at the 21st National Foreign Affairs Conference? In the coming time, how will the Ministry of Foreign Affairs continue to support foreign affairs and international integration of localities across the country?

The 21st National Foreign Affairs Conference was a great success with the chairmanship of Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son and the active and numerous participation of representatives of departments, ministries, branches, leaders of provinces, cities and local foreign affairs agencies. This shows the active interest of all levels and branches in local foreign affairs work.

Before the Conference, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs requested localities to make specific “orders”, proposals and recommendations to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. According to statistics, there were 267 proposals and recommendations from localities sent to the Ministry. With the theme “ Promoting the pioneering role of foreign affairs to serve sustainable development of localities ” , the Conference focused on exchanging and sharing experiences between localities and organizing many activities connecting localities with international partners.

I like the following three contents:

Firstly, it is necessary to continue and further promote the pioneering role of foreign affairs in serving development, enhancing the country's position in general and for the sustainable development of localities in particular.

Second, it is necessary to develop local foreign affairs in a comprehensive, inter-regional, inter-sectoral, focused and key direction, taking quality, efficiency and sustainability as the top criteria. Economic diplomacy is the central and fundamental task to support localities in promoting their image, potential, strengths and attracting resources from abroad.

Third , focus on improving the quality and capacity of the staff working in local foreign affairs, including innovating the content and methods of training and fostering to meet the requirements of improving the capacity of implementing foreign affairs and international integration of local foreign affairs staff; have policies for planning, arranging and effectively using staff working in this field.

With the spirit of service, taking the locality as the center of service, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will continue to accompany and support localities in the coming time with the following focuses:

Firstly, to concretize, institutionalize and organize the synchronous, effective and comprehensive implementation of the foreign affairs and international integration policies of the 13th National Party Congress, prepare the content of foreign affairs for the Party Congresses of localities in the coming period as well as the 14th National Party Congress; contributing to the successful implementation of the 10-year Socio-Economic Development Strategy 2021-2030 and the 5-year Socio-Economic Development Plan 2021-2025.

Second, promote the implementation of comprehensive, effective and substantive economic diplomacy in accordance with the spirit of Directive 15 of the Secretariat on economic diplomacy and Resolution 21 of the Government on the implementation of Directive 15.

Third , continue to accompany and support localities in attracting international resources for sustainable development through: (i) Increasing the provision of information on world economic developments, implementing foreign affairs, issues that directly impact industries, fields, localities, and domestic enterprises; (ii) Information on governance rules, new standards, new trends in international economic cooperation; (iii) Policy advice on local social issues based on international experience; (iv) Supporting localities in establishing and effectively utilizing twinning relationships with localities around the world, cooperative relationships with multinational corporations, international organizations and foreign business associations, participating in local-level international cooperation mechanisms; (v) Accompanying localities in promotional activities, connections, promotions, cultural events, and people-to-people exchanges with creative and innovative approaches linked to local needs and potentials.

Fourth , continue to comprehensively and strongly implement local foreign affairs in the fields of cultural diplomacy, foreign information, overseas Vietnamese affairs and connecting overseas Vietnamese with localities, border and territory affairs, consular affairs, citizen protection, specialized diplomatic inspection work, signing and implementing international agreements, and managing international conferences and seminars.

Fifth , promote the training and fostering of local foreign affairs officers in terms of political qualities, ethics, qualifications, capacity, modern professional style, and a spirit of innovation and creativity. Research and promote the secondment and transfer of experienced, qualified, and capable diplomatic officers to work locally to further enhance the exchange and sharing of experiences and training of officers, helping to build a team of officers working in foreign affairs that meets the requirements of the new era.

Thank you very much, Deputy Minister!

Source: https://baoquocte.vn/7-nhiem-vu-trong-tam-cua-nganh-ngoai-giao-phat-huy-tinh-than-phung-su-lay-dia-phuong-lam-trung-tam-phuc-vu-255602.html