Vietnam's 'soft power': Advantages, challenges and prospects

The Vietnam Moment 2025 thematic forum with the theme "Vietnam's soft power: Advantages, challenges and prospects" chaired by the Ho Chi Minh City Peace and Development Foundation (HPDF) will take place on November 13 at the International Convention Center, Military Hospital 175, Ho Chi Minh City.

The event continues the spirit of in-depth dialogue initiated at the Vietnam Moment Forum 2024, aiming to identify core values that can become the foundation for national brand strategy in the new period.

For many years, diplomat Ton Nu Thi Ninh, former Vice Chairwoman of the National Assembly's Foreign Affairs Committee, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Vietnam to Belgium and the European Union, and President of HPDF, has always been one of the pioneers in proposing and promoting a systematic approach to "soft power" and national branding.

With extensive experience on the foreign affairs front, she believes that this is the right time for Vietnam to more clearly identify its intangible advantages, while shaping its national story to the world through the language of Vietnamese culture, knowledge, creativity and humanistic values.

Opening up dialogue in a volatile global context

According to the organizers, the Vietnam Moment Forum 2025 is designed as an open space, bringing together scholars, experts, businessmen, artists and representatives of the young generation from many fields. The goal is to create a focused discussion on the meaning of soft power for a rapidly developing and deeply integrated country like Vietnam.

Explaining the reason for choosing the topic, the organizers said that the issue of soft power has become more urgent in the context of the world undergoing complex changes. Although this concept has been discussed in the international research community, in Vietnam it has not been approached systematically, and there has not been a widespread consensus on the definition, content and implementation methods.

Therefore, the forum aims to open up, suggest, analyze and more importantly seek practical suggestions that can contribute to policy making and the topic can be seen as part of the issue of country branding/Vietnam branding.

Building on the success of the Vietnam Moment Forum 2024, HPDF continues to maintain the spirit of “community brainstorming”, multi-dimensional dialogue, respecting the feelings and perspectives of each social group. This year, the entire program is designed around the theme “Vietnam’s soft power”.

With a structure consisting of many thematic discussion sessions, this year's program not only aims at knowledge exchange but also hopes to contribute to shaping the initial pillars for Vietnam's long-term soft power development strategy.

The opening session of the forum will focus on identifying the concept of soft power, with a presentation by Dr. Tran Nguyen Khang (Faculty of International Relations, University of Social Sciences and Humanities, VNU-HCM).

In addition to the academic perspective, this session also featured international speakers from France, Japan and the United States, helping to expand comparisons and analyze successful examples of soft power building in many regions.

Speakers included Director of the French Chamber of Commerce and Industry Adam Koulaksezian; Japanese Ambassador Takahashi Kunio; Writer and journalist Sam Korsmoe and documentary film producer Tommy Nguyen from the United States.

International cases show that soft power creation requires persistence, clear strategy and the ability to connect policy, cultural creativity, media and content industries.

These are experiences that Vietnam can refer to when entering a new phase of national branding. In the discussion sessions, speakers from the fields of academia, business, human resources and communications will analyze the importance of soft power from many perspectives: culture, economy, labor market and brand strategy.

According to experts, in the context of Vietnam becoming a destination for new value chains, national image and social trust become factors that strongly influence investment, cooperation and exchange decisions.

Culture – as a material that creates identity and distinction, is an important foundation for enhancing soft power. However, the economic sector, innovation, and high-quality human resource development are also complementary factors, helping to transform cultural values into practical attraction.

Vietnam's 'soft power': Advantages, challenges and prospects - photo 2 — Exchange and performance program of DTAP group and many young artists in the campaign "Journey of Vietnamese Pride" - an activity of the group's music project "Made in Vietnam", on the occasion of the 80th Anniversary of August Revolution and National Day September 2

Finding cultural strengths to leverage “soft power”

At the Forum, the discussion sessions focused on the central question: in the current development stage, what contents should Vietnam prioritize to build soft power suitable to the country's context and potential?

With experience living and working in an international environment, the experts will also bring practical perspectives on how Vietnam is perceived, cultural strengths that can be better promoted and challenges in national communication.

Each share from overseas Vietnamese is an important feedback channel, helping to identify the gap between the image that Vietnam wants to project and how Vietnam is perceived from the outside…

The brainstorming session was the highlight of the Forum, where speakers and participants together built a picture of Vietnam’s current status in the international arena. This activity aimed at the spirit of “co-creation”, instead of just receiving one-way information.

Diverse perspectives from fashion, books, healthcare, defense, innovative technology to the role of women in society will be presented by designer Si Hoang, Dr. Nguyen Manh Hung, Major General Nguyen Hong Son, Tran Vu Nguyen and journalist Khong Loan.

These analyses will help open up a more complete picture of the areas that can create competitive advantages for Vietnam in the eyes of international friends.

According to the organizers, the discussion will also delve into the necessary policies to identify, build and promote soft power.

Speakers such as Associate Professor Dr. Phan Thanh Binh, former Chairman of the National Assembly's Committee for Culture and Education, former Director of Ho Chi Minh City National University; Pham Minh Toan, General Director of VietFest; Tran Si Chuong, economic expert; Vo Quang Hue, former Deputy General Director of VinGroup and representatives of international organizations such as Australian Consul General Sarah Hooper, founder and Senior Board Advisor of Grant Thornson - Ken Atkinson OBE will analyze both sides: advantages and challenges.

Vietnam has a long-standing culture, a distinct identity and a large Vietnamese community worldwide – natural advantages for developing soft power. However, the implementation process has encountered many difficulties: lack of long-term strategy, lack of measurement tools, and the formation of a cultural industry system strong enough to transform cultural values into sustainable appeal.

Expert opinions aim to raise urgent policy requirements: how to coordinate the fields of culture - education - foreign affairs - economy, thereby forming a synchronous strategy on national soft power.

In particular, the Forum will feature young representatives in the field of culture and arts such as Duc Phuc and the DTAP group, to reflect the new creative class that is contributing to building the image of a modern, dynamic, and unique Vietnam.

Accordingly, Duc Phuc has just won the Intervision 2025 Champion, the Voice of Vietnam 2015 Champion; meanwhile, DTAP is a group of 3 talented young musicians and producers who have been honored as "Producer of the Year" at many prestigious awards such as Cong Hien and Lan Song Xanh.

DTAP is the name behind a series of outstanding hits by VPOP artists in recent years such as Made in Viet Nam . The artists will bring a vivid perspective from the music industry - a cultural industry that has the ability to strongly contribute to Vietnam's soft power in the digital age.

According to the Organizing Committee, the Vietnam Moment Forum is a non-profit initiative promoted by HPDF, aiming to connect Vietnamese people at home and abroad; encourage two-way exchanges, interactions and cooperation between the Vietnamese community abroad and Vietnam; share successful lessons, especially of the younger generation, thereby bringing glory to the country and the global Vietnamese community.

The Vietnam Moments 2025 Forum hopes to contribute to the recognition of Vietnamese identity in the globalized world, spreading the image of a modern, humane, creative Vietnam that always strives for sustainable development values.

Source: https://baovanhoa.vn/van-hoa/suc-manh-mem-viet-nam-loi-the-thach-thuc-va-trien-vong-180763.html