Hung Yen: Comprehensive foreign affairs opens up new development space

Since the beginning of 2025, Hung Yen province's foreign affairs have made great strides in all three pillars of political diplomacy, economic diplomacy and cultural diplomacy. In the context of the newly formed province after merging with Thai Binh, foreign affairs activities not only strengthen the international position but also become a driving force for socio-economic development.

Political diplomacy: Affirming position, expanding partnerships

In 2025, Hung Yen's political diplomacy will be proactively and extensively deployed with many high-level reception and working activities, creating a solid foundation for comprehensive cooperation with international partners.

In early 2025, within the framework of the Homeland Spring 2025 program, Hung Yen organized a meeting and received a delegation of outstanding overseas Vietnamese from 32 countries and territories returning to visit their homeland. Standing Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Nguyen Le Huy emphasized the role of the overseas Vietnamese community - currently more than 8,000 Hung Yen people living, studying and working in 33 countries - as an important resource and a cultural and economic bridge between the province and the world.

One of the most prominent political diplomatic events is the "Meet Korea 2025" Conference taking place on May 14, 2025 at Ecopark Urban Area (Van Giang). This is a large-scale event jointly organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Korean Embassy in Vietnam and the People's Committee of Hung Yen province, with the participation of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son, Secretary of the Hung Yen Provincial Party Committee Nguyen Huu Nghia, Korean Ambassador Choi Youngsam and more than 500 delegates representing 25 northern provinces and cities and more than 150 Korean enterprises.

At the reception of the Korean Ambassador on the same day, Provincial Party Secretary Nguyen Huu Nghia affirmed that the cooperative relationship between Hung Yen and Korea is developing strongly with 162 FDI projects from Korea, total registered capital of 1.46 billion USD, creating jobs for nearly 25,000 workers. The province considers Korea a potential strategic partner in many fields and is committed to creating the most favorable conditions for investors.

Expanding relations with traditional partners, Hung Yen has proactively worked with many high-ranking diplomatic delegations. On July 31, 2025, the Provincial Party Secretary received a working delegation of the Japanese Communist Party led by Vice Chairman of the Presidium, Acting Head of the Secretariat Tanaka Yu, emphasizing the desire to continue expanding friendly relations and investment cooperation with Japanese localities - the leading partner in terms of the number of FDI projects in Hung Yen with 192 projects, registered capital of more than 6.16 billion USD.

On the afternoon of October 13, 2025, the Provincial People's Committee received and worked with the Vietnamese Embassy in Portugal led by Ambassador Nguyen Manh Thang, together with the President of the Portugal - Vietnam Friendship Association, to seek new cooperation opportunities in the fields of processing industry, high technology and renewable energy. These diplomatic reception activities not only demonstrate Hung Yen's openness and proactiveness in international integration but also create a solid legal and political foundation for further economic, trade and investment cooperation activities.

Mr. Nguyen Le Huy - Permanent Vice Chairman of Hung Yen province spoke at the Homeland Spring Program 2025 in Hung Yen.

Economic diplomacy: Breakthrough in attracting investment, affirming the position of FDI center

Economic diplomacy is the most prominent highlight in Hung Yen's foreign affairs in 2025, with impressive figures in attracting foreign investment capital and vibrant investment promotion activities.

From the beginning of the year to August 2025, Hung Yen has attracted more than 6.3 billion USD from 243 new and increased investment projects, including 99 FDI projects with nearly 1.6 billion USD. In the first 7 months of the year alone, the province attracted 91 new FDI projects with a total capital of more than 1.33 billion USD, an increase of 36% over the same period, bringing Hung Yen to the 6th position nationwide in attracting foreign investment.

As of October 2025, the province has 915 valid FDI projects with a total registered capital of 16.48 billion USD. The three largest investing countries are Japan (192 projects, 6.13 billion USD, accounting for 37.21%), China (340 projects, 4.31 billion USD, accounting for 26.13%) and South Korea (206 projects, 2.19 billion USD, accounting for 13.29%).

A special highlight is the emergence of large-scale, iconic projects such as the Trump International Hung Yen urban-ecotourism complex in Khoai Chau district with a total capital of over 1.5 billion USD - the first project with the Trump brand in Vietnam, starting construction in May 2025. The presence of multinational corporations such as Hyundai, Canon, Toto, Inax, Dorco, Sumitomo, CTP (Netherlands) has affirmed Hung Yen's position on the international investment map.

Not only welcoming, Hung Yen also proactively "seeks" investment opportunities through promotional activities abroad. On September 10, 2025, in Foshan City (China), the provincial delegation organized an investment promotion conference in coordination with the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade - Foshan Branch and Foshan Small and Medium Enterprise Development Association. Here, many important memorandums of understanding (MOUs) were signed, especially between Hai Long Industrial Park and Chinese partners on investment connection, legal support and construction.

Continuing, on the morning of October 23, 2025, the Provincial Investment Promotion Delegation led by Member of the Provincial Party Standing Committee, Chairman of the Provincial Party Inspection Committee Nguyen Quang Hung organized an Investment Promotion Conference in Shanghai (China) with the participation of nearly 100 enterprises. Shanghai enterprises expressed special interest in the fields of auto parts manufacturing, semiconductor industry, renewable energy and green materials. Representatives of Hung Yen's departments and branches directly answered specific questions about preferential policies, infrastructure, and procedures, demonstrating the local spirit of professionalism and transparency.

Chairman of Hung Yen Provincial People's Committee Tran Quoc Van and representative of Sumitomo Corporation (Japan) exchanged a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on cooperation to promote the Thang Long II Industrial Park project, phase 4.

For the Japanese market, in February 2025, Hung Yen organized the program "Meeting, exploring cooperation, investment and trade promotion opportunities between Japanese enterprises and enterprises of Hung Yen province". In September 2025, Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Tran Quoc Van and the working delegation had a series of investment promotion activities in the Kansai region and Tokyo, affirming that investment attraction is one of the three key breakthroughs of the province.

One of the important factors contributing to the success in attracting FDI is Hung Yen's administrative reform efforts. In 2024, Hung Yen province (old) entered the top 10 nationwide for the first time in terms of Provincial Competitiveness Index (PCI) with 70.18 points, up 43 places compared to 2020. Notably, in the first 8 months of 2025, Hung Yen rose to the top of the country in terms of PCI, demonstrating a remarkable improvement in the investment environment.

The province has shortened the time for processing procedures by at least 30%, while supporting businesses throughout the project life cycle, creating a transparent, open and effective investment environment. The policy of "openness - integration - companionship" has helped Hung Yen become a bright spot on the investment attraction map of the Northern key economic region.

On October 8, 2025, the Hung Yen Provincial Business Association organized the 2025 Trade Promotion Conference with the participation of more than 300 enterprises inside and outside the province. Here, representatives of business associations of provinces and cities signed a memorandum of understanding on the product consumption cooperation program and market expansion. Nearly 30 booths displaying typical products of the province, especially food products, pharmaceuticals, electrical and electronic equipment, were introduced, creating opportunities for trade connections between Hung Yen enterprises and other localities.

Cultural diplomacy: Preserving identity, expanding international exchange

Along with political and economic diplomacy, Hung Yen's cultural diplomacy in 2025 will also receive investment attention, contributing to promoting the local image and cultural identity to the world.

From February 17-19, 2025 (January 20-22 of the lunar calendar), Hung Yen city solemnly organized the 2025 Pho Hien Folk Culture Festival with the theme "Three rivers in harmony - The essence shines". The festival was held on a large scale at Nguyen Van Linh Square, the premises of the Management Board of Pho Hien National Special Relic Site and the Crescent Lake campus, gathering hundreds of professional actors and artists.

The program recreated the history of Pho Hien - "First Kinh Ky, second Pho Hien" with special activities such as the water procession from the Red River, palanquin procession, incense offering, dragon dance, lion dance, folk competitions (tug of war, chess, human chess, lemon passing, sack jumping), and photo exhibition on cultural heritage. Thousands of domestic and foreign tourists flocked to attend, contributing to promoting the image of Hung Yen as an attractive cultural and tourist destination.

From October 30 to November 4, 2025 (10-15 of the 9th lunar month), the province continues to organize the Keo Pagoda Festival in the fall of 2025 at the Keo Pagoda National Monument, Vu Tien Commune. The festival consists of two parts: Ceremony (with traditional rituals such as the opening ceremony, the procession of the Saint, puppetry to pay homage to the Saint, flower lantern festival, and the practice of Mother Goddess worship rituals) and Festival (festival boat singing, exchange of rowing clubs, phoenix-wing betel-leaf making, Keo Pagoda fine art photography exhibition, and Chinese chess).

Dragon Dance at the opening ceremony of Pho Hien folk festival, Hung Yen city, Hung Yen province.

In June 2025, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism decided to announce 3 more typical cultural forms of Hung Yen to be included in the List of National Intangible Cultural Heritages, including: Lang Hoi Traditional Festival (Thu Tri Commune), Ong Pagoda Traditional Festival (Nhu Quynh Commune) and Folk knowledge of raising and processing Dong Tao chicken (Hoan Long Commune). Thus, up to now, Hung Yen province has 27 national intangible cultural heritages, affirming its position as a locality possessing great cultural heritages of the whole country.

The Tran Temple Festival (Long Hung Commune) - a national intangible cultural heritage since 2014 - continues to be held from January 13-17 every year with many traditional folk games and performances recreated such as fish feast competition, clay firecrackers, banh chung wrapping, phoenix-wing betel wrapping, ball wrestling, chess, fire-pulling, tug-of-war, singing festival, and cheo club exchange. This is not only an opportunity for people and tourists to worship but also contributes to the development of spiritual cultural tourism in the province.

In October 2025, in Hanoi, Hung Yen participated in the 2025 Autumn Fair - an event held for the first time. With an exhibition area of ​​over 200 square meters with the theme "Integration and Development", the province brought a colorful picture of potential, strengths and efforts to innovate and build brands. More than 20 enterprises and production facilities participated in displaying handicraft products, local specialties, typical industrial products and OCOP products.

In particular, Nam Cao linen products (Nam Cao Linen Weaving Cooperative, Le Loi Commune) - a traditional craft with a history of nearly 400 years - have attracted the attention of many visitors, showing the effort to "revive" the craft village amid the flow of modern society.

From October 25 to November 15, 2025, at Hung Yen Museum, the exhibition "Vietnamese Buddhist Art Treasures" was held with 21 precious artifacts, helping visitors admire the artistic and spiritual beauty of Vietnamese Buddhist culture. This is also an opportunity for Hung Yen to promote the image of a land rich in cultural traditions to the international tourist community.

On October 29, 2025, the province organized the Science, Technology, Innovation and Digital Transformation Forum of Hung Yen province in 2025 at the Provincial Information - Conference Center with the theme "Promoting innovation and sustainable economic development". This large-scale event gathered many leaders, experts, businesses and leading technology organizations at home and abroad, demonstrating the province's orientation of deep integration in the field of science and technology.

Orientation and recommendations for developing foreign affairs work in the coming time

After merging with Thai Binh from July 1, 2025, Hung Yen province will have an area of ​​over 2,514 km², a population of over 3.56 million people with 104 commune-level administrative units. This is a stable administrative entity with outstanding potential, large economic scale, combining industry, services and coastal economy, tourism. The 1st Congress of Hung Yen Provincial Party Committee (term 2025-2030) has determined the goal: "Building Hung Yen into a modern industrial province, developing rapidly and sustainably, with economic scale and development level in the leading group of the country".

During the 2025-2030 term, the province aims for an average GRDP growth rate of 10-11%/year, with an average GRDP per capita of over VND180 million by 2030, and a GRDP scale of about VND600,000 billion. Three strategic breakthroughs are identified: developing science, technology, innovation and digital transformation in conjunction with strong private economic development; synchronous development of infrastructure, especially digital infrastructure and inter-regional transport connectivity; and building high-quality human resources.

The 1st Congress of the Hung Yen Provincial Party Committee (term 2025-2030) has set the goal: "Building Hung Yen into a modern industrial province, developing rapidly and sustainably, with an economic scale and development level among the leading groups in the country".

Regarding political diplomacy, Hung Yen aims to continue strengthening relations with traditional partners such as Korea, Japan, China, while expanding relations with European countries (Netherlands, Portugal) and the ASEAN region. In addition, the province aims to promote the role of the Hung Yen community abroad in people's diplomacy, creating a bridge for economic and cultural cooperation, while actively participating in international forums and conferences on economics, trade, investment, science and technology to promote the province's image.

Regarding economic diplomacy, the province prioritizes attracting high-quality, high-tech, environmentally friendly FDI projects in the fields of processing and manufacturing industry; semiconductor industry, auto components; clean energy, renewable energy; development of digital government, digital economy; high-tech agriculture; logistics. Hung Yen also promotes investment promotion activities in key markets such as Japan, Korea, China, ASEAN, Europe, and the US; researches the establishment of Hung Yen Free Economic Zone on the basis of the current Thai Binh Economic Zone to create a breakthrough in attracting investment, in addition to continuing to improve the investment environment, maintaining and enhancing the leading position in PCI, and shortening the time to handle administrative procedures.

Regarding cultural diplomacy, Hung Yen focuses on building the brand "Hung Yen - Land of culture and prosperity" through international promotion programs, regularly organizing large-scale cultural festivals, promoting Hung Yen's cultural identity to international tourists, as well as promoting the conservation and promotion of the value of 27 national intangible cultural heritages, associated with the development of cultural and spiritual tourism.

With the achievements since the beginning of 2025, Hung Yen's foreign affairs have been making an important contribution to the comprehensive development of the locality. From this solid foundation, in the context of expanded development space after the merger, Hung Yen has full potential and determination to become one of the leading modern industrial, service and cultural centers of the Red River Delta, contributing to the common prosperity of the whole country in the new era - the era of the Vietnamese people's rise.

Source: https://baoquocte.vn/hung-yen-cong-tac-ngoai-vu-toan-dien-mo-ra-khong-giant-phat-trien-moi-332497.html