Speech by General Secretary To Lam at Oxford University (UK)

General Secretary To Lam delivers a policy speech at Oxford University. Photo: Thong Nhat – VNA

Dear Principal and School Leaders,

Dear Professors, Lecturers, Researchers, Students and Friends of Vietnam at Oxford University,

Dear all,

The Vietnamese delegation and I are very pleased to be present at a University with a long tradition of promoting academic freedom and global knowledge. Oxford is one of the world's leading centers of higher education, a symbol of British knowledge, and a place that has trained many generations of people committed to peace , justice and the progress of humanity.

It is an honor for us to share Vietnam's vision in the new era with you, especially with the young people who are preparing to shape the future of the world, with future scientists and policymakers.

In today's meeting, I would like to tell you three things: First : The world is entering a period of fierce strategic competition, full of risks but also opening up new development opportunities. Second : Vietnam chooses the path of peaceful, independent, self-reliant, self-reliant, creative, and humane development, not only to build a strong and prosperous country for its people, but also to contribute responsibly to regional stability and international order based on international law. Third: The Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between Vietnam and the United Kingdom, the highest level of cooperation in Vietnam's foreign policy, needs and will become a new model of cooperation, substantive, equal, mutually beneficial, and mutually developing.

Ladies and gentlemen,

We are living in a time when borders and concepts of power are changing every day, even every hour. The geopolitical landscape is witnessing strategic competition between major power centers, not only in terms of political and security influence but also in economics, technology, supply chains, data standards, artificial intelligence and biotechnology. Competition in innovation, in control of core technologies, in clean energy, in digital infrastructure, has become the new race for power. To put it bluntly: whoever masters the strategy, whoever holds strategic technology, will shape the rules of the game and will most likely win.

At the same time, the risks of local conflicts, sovereignty and territorial disputes, and clashes of interests at sea, in cyberspace, and in digital space are increasing in both frequency and complexity. The pressure to “choose sides,” “polarize,” and “form alliances to contain each other” is reappearing in more sophisticated forms. The new boundaries are not only in territory, longitude, and latitude, but also in data, technology, and value chains. The world seems to be operating simultaneously according to two trends: both deeper connection and faster division.

Traditional and non-traditional security challenges are intertwined: energy security, food security, water security, climate change, global pandemics, high-tech crime, cyber attacks on critical systems. No country, large or small, can handle all these risks on its own.

Today’s geo-economic competition is not just about markets, tariffs or trade deficits. It is about competing for strategic supply chains, access to critical minerals, and the right to set new technological standards. Many countries are adjusting their industrial strategies, promoting “self-reliance”, “diversification”, “reducing dependence”, and “supply chain security”. This is reshaping the global production map and restructuring investment flows.

In that context, the question for nations is not only “whose side to stand on, where to stand”, but “how to stand firm, how to be autonomous”. For Vietnam, that is also a question of life and death.

Vietnam chooses the path of peace, independence, self-reliance, cooperation and development. Vietnam is a nation that had to fight for independence with blood and paid the price of war for peace. We understand the ultimate value of peace. President Ho Chi Minh's truth that "nothing is more precious than independence and freedom" is the guiding principle for my people's actions. That is the moral foundation and principle of our life in social life and international relations today.

In a world full of pressure to choose sides, Vietnam persists in its foreign policy of independence, self-reliance, multilateralization, and diversification of foreign relations; Vietnam wishes to be a friend, a reliable partner, and a responsible member of the international community. Vietnam strives to build a “warm inside, peaceful outside”: maintain political stability and economic and social development internally, maintain a peaceful, cooperative, and mutually respectful environment externally; handle differences by peaceful means and international law; put people and the legitimate interests of the people first and foremost.

We are steadfast in our principles: firmly protecting independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity; at the same time creating the most favorable external environment for national development, improving the quality of life of the people, narrowing the development gap, and contributing to peace and stability in the region and the world. We protect the Fatherland with peace, international law, culture, national traditions, and mutually beneficial cooperation. That is our proactive and responsible strategic choice of Vietnam.

I would like to emphasize that: Vietnam does not encourage confrontation. Vietnam does not choose a path of development based on conflict or antagonism. We believe in equal dialogue, believe in international law, believe that sovereignty should not be asserted by guns or by imposition, but by mutual respect, by agreement to respect common rules and by shared interests.

That spirit has helped Vietnam maintain socio-political stability while proactively integrating into the international economy, participating in new-generation free trade agreements, and expanding multi-level cooperation with partners in all regions, including the UK.

Dear Friends,

If we want to go far, fast, stable, sustainable and proactively, we understand that we cannot rely solely on natural resources, cheap labor, or human resource advantages... Vietnam has chosen a very clear direction: science and technology, innovation, digital transformation and knowledge economy will be the main growth drivers in the coming period.

We are strongly promoting the national digital transformation strategy, developing the digital economy, green economy, circular economy, low-carbon economy. We consider innovation not only as a pure scientific laboratory, but also as the vitality of the economy, national competitiveness, and the ability to withstand geopolitical and geo-economic shocks.

That entails the need for institutional reform. We continue to build and perfect the model of a “socialist-oriented market economy” : an economy that operates according to market rules, encourages healthy competition, respects the role of private enterprises as an important driving force of growth; at the same time, affirms the guiding, leading and regulating role of the socialist rule-of-law State, under the leadership of the Communist Party of Vietnam, to ensure development goes hand in hand with social progress and equity.

In short: we consider the private economy as the most important driving force to accelerate economic growth; consider the state economic sector as the leading force, ensuring macroeconomic stability, economic security, energy security, and food security; consider the rule of law, honest governance, and the prevention of corruption, waste, and group interests as conditions for social trust, for social resources to be allocated effectively, and for all people to enjoy the fruits of development fairly.

At the same time, we put people at the center of every development strategy. The main goal is not growth statistics, but to truly improve the quality of life of people: income, housing, public health, quality education, social security, opportunities for personal development, a safe and clean living environment. We want growth without sacrificing the environment. We want industrialization without losing culture. We want urbanization without leaving anyone behind.

This is a very fundamental point in Vietnam's development thinking: rapid growth must be associated with sustainable development; sustainable development must be based on knowledge, science-technology and innovation; innovation is only meaningful when people benefit substantially, fairly and equally.

On that basis, Vietnam has set two very clear strategic goals, which we call the two 100-year goals. The first goal: by 2030, marking 100 years of the country's development under the leadership of the Communist Party of Vietnam, we are determined to become a developing country with modern industry and high average income. The second goal: by 2045, the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, Vietnam strives to become a developed country with high income, a modern economy, a civilized society, people with high material and spiritual life, and a country with a worthy position in the international community. This is the political-historical commitment that we declare to our people and to the international community.

Dear Friends,

Vietnam and the UK established diplomatic relations in 1973. Since then, the two sides have come a long and meaningful way, despite differences in geography, development level and political systems.

In 2010, the two countries signed a Joint Statement establishing a Strategic Partnership. This was a major turning point, opening up extensive cooperation in many areas such as politics-diplomacy, trade-investment, education-training, science-technology, defense-security, sustainable development and people-to-people exchange.

To date, economic and trade cooperation between Vietnam and the UK has become increasingly strategic. After the UK left the European Union, the two countries signed a bilateral free trade agreement based on high-quality commitments, thereby ensuring the continuity of trade and investment flows. At the same time, the UK joined the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), where Vietnam is one of the founding members, creating an open economic cooperation structure based on high standards on digital trade, intellectual property, services and investment.

Educational cooperation is a very prominent pillar. Tens of thousands of Vietnamese students have been studying in the UK in fields ranging from science and technology, information technology, finance, medicine, biomedicine, to public policy and high-quality human resource training, which is the knowledge bridge connecting the two countries.

Today, we are facing a new development: the two countries are promoting the upgrading of relations to Comprehensive Strategic Partnership - the highest level in Vietnam's foreign relations system. This is a clear affirmation that Vietnam considers the UK not only as a trade partner, an educational partner, a science and technology partner, but also as a long-term strategic partner to jointly shape the standards of cooperation in the 21st century.

I want to emphasize two things.

Firstly, the Vietnam-UK relationship is a relationship of friendship, cooperation and mutual development. This is a partnership in which both sides have fundamental interests in maintaining peace, stability, respecting international law, ensuring freedom of navigation, protecting global supply chains, promoting fair and sustainable trade, responding to climate change, green development, and inclusive development. In other words, this is the meeting of the UK's need to engage more deeply in the Asia-Pacific region and Vietnam's need to expand its strategic space, technology, education, and high-quality finance with the UK, with Europe, and with the international community.

Second, we need a new model of cooperation - practical, measurable, and spreading benefits directly to the people of both countries. When I say “a new model of cooperation”, I mean cooperation between the UK’s strengths in basic science, applied science, high technology, biomedicine, public health, higher education, urban management, energy transition, and financial services with the needs of digital transformation, green transformation, improving the quality of human resources, innovating development management, and perfecting the socialist-oriented market economic institution in Vietnam.

It is not just a “technology transfer” cooperation. It is a co-creation of the future. I believe that Oxford itself – with its tradition of connecting knowledge and public policy, with its influential alumni network around the world – can play a very specific role in this process. I envision at least four directions: (1) Joint training and research cooperation in key areas such as public health, biotechnology, nuclear science, basic science, responsible artificial intelligence, climate change, clean energy policy. (2) Expert exchange programs between policy research institutes in Vietnam and centers for policy research, public administration, and sustainable development in the UK, to jointly develop policy recommendations that can be applied in practice, bringing effective, concrete results to places where your recommendations are applied. (3) Cooperate to support innovation and technology startups for Vietnamese enterprises, especially small and medium enterprises and innovative startups, the subjects that will determine the speed of digital transformation and green transformation of the Vietnamese economy in the next decade. (4) Jointly test models of sustainable urban development, green finance, open education, digital healthcare and community healthcare, areas that both sides are interested in and have urgent needs.

If we can do that, the Vietnam-UK relationship will be more than just high-level political statements. It will become a living force, a network of knowledge and technology stretching from Hanoi to London, from Ho Chi Minh City to Oxford, between research institutes, universities, businesses, and even from people to people.

Dear Friends,

Vietnam enters a new stage of development with a strong aspiration: to build a strong, prosperous, and humane country; a modern, green, and smart economy; a fair and civilized society where people are guaranteed human security and are facilitated for comprehensive development. We strive for the goal of “a rich people, a strong country, democracy, fairness, and civilization”. This is the consistent orientation in our national development strategy.

We believe in the power of humanity. Throughout history, the Vietnamese people have always used humanity to overcome cruelty, and used humaneness to replace violence. We believe that the most lasting strength of a nation is not only military or financial strength, but moral strength, the strength to unite the people, the strength to build trust with international friends.

We love peace, desire freedom and development. We seek equal cooperation. We do not accept imposition. We respect international law. We do not want the world to be divided into opposing blocs but desire a world united because “this earth is ours”. We want the world to develop together.

In that spirit, I hope that the young generation in the UK, research institutes, universities, innovative businesses, civil society organizations, future policy makers - always believe that there is a Vietnamese friend who is a sincere and trustworthy partner, sharing responsibilities and benefits in a reshaping world order.

I believe that if we join hands to build a comprehensive, substantive strategic cooperation framework, based on mutual respect, mutual benefit, and long-term vision, the Vietnam-UK relationship will not only advance to a new level on the diplomatic map of the new era. It will become a driving force, a model, a common success story - not only for our two countries, but also for peace, stability, and sustainable development in the 21st century.

Thank you very much.

Thank you Oxford University for creating a space for us to exchange frankly, openly and objectively, and together think about a better future.

Thank you very much!