Plenary Session on Diplomacy Serving National Development in the New Period

On August 4, as part of the 33rd Diplomatic Conference, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs organized a plenary session on diplomacy serving national development in the new period under the theme “Breakthrough Thinking - Decisive Action - Substantive Results.” The conference took place in a hybrid format, combining in-person participation with online connections to local venues and Vietnamese representative agencies abroad. Comrade Le Minh Hung—Member of the Politburo and Prime Minister of the Government—attended and delivered a directing address at the plenary session.

Comrade Chairman of the Provincial People’s Committee Tran Duy Dong delivers a presentation at the conference.

Attending the plenary session at the central bridge point was Comrade Tran Duy Dong—Alternate Member of the Party Central Committee, Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, and Chairman of the Provincial People’s Committee.

Attending at the Phu Tho provincial bridge point was Comrade Quach Tat Liem—Member of the Provincial Party Committee and Vice Chairman of the Provincial People’s Committee, alongside leadership representatives from various provincial departments, sectors, and agencies.

The plenary session on diplomacy serving national development in the new period focused its discussions on the role of foreign affairs and economic diplomacy in supporting growth targets and innovating Vietnam’s development model. Contents at the session revolved around requirements to strengthen coordination between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Vietnamese representative agencies abroad, localities, enterprises, and economic sectors.

Through discussions, the meeting aimed to clarify the need to innovate methods of implementing foreign affairs toward directly serving growth objectives, expanding markets, attracting resources, and raising the economy’s competitiveness.

Comrade Chairman of the Provincial People’s Committee Tran Duy Dong alongside delegates attending the conference at the central bridge point.

Delivering his presentation at the conference, Comrade Tran Duy Dong—Chairman of the Provincial People’s Committee—affirmed: Phu Tho determines that foreign affairs must truly become a driving force serving development. Following its consolidation, the province possesses a development space of over 9,300 km2, a population exceeding 4 million people, and an economic scale near USD 16 billion, creating vast room to attract international resources.

Phu Tho has innovated its approach to foreign affairs toward a proactive, substantive direction—focusing on building cooperation frameworks tied to attracting investment, developing science and technology, training human resources, and expanding export markets.

By the end of June 2026, Phu Tho attracted nearly USD 1.8 billion in FDI capital, a 5-fold increase over the same period last year; cumulatively, there are 747 FDI projects with total registered capital of over USD 15 billion from 28 countries and territories; export turnover in 2025 reached approximately USD 42 billion, ranking 4th nationwide. In addition, the province focuses on leveraging Ancestral Land cultural values, enhancing cultural diplomacy, people-to-people exchanges, and community connections among over 13,000 Phu Tho natives residing abroad.

Chairman of the Provincial People’s Committee Tran Duy Dong emphasized: In the coming time, Phu Tho outlines three international cooperation priorities: attracting high-quality FDI; expanding cooperation in science, technology, innovation, digital transformation, green transition, and human resource development; and connecting markets, logistics, tourism, and people-to-people exchanges.

He requested the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Vietnamese representative agencies abroad to continue supporting the locality in expanding international cooperation, attracting strategic investors, providing market information and global supply chain forecasts, thereby contributing to elevating foreign affairs efficiency and driving fast, sustainable development...

Comrade Vice Chairman of the Provincial People’s Committee Quach Tat Liem alongside delegates attending the conference at the Phu Tho provincial bridge point.

In his directing address at the meeting, Prime Minister Le Minh Hung recognized the outstanding achievements of the diplomatic sector in recent times in maintaining a peaceful, stable environment, expanding foreign relations, elevating the country’s position, promoting international integration, and mobilizing resources for development.

Facing new requirements, the Prime Minister tasked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the entire sector to focus on building a clean, strong Ministry Party Committee; elevating the quality of cadres, especially personnel stationed at Vietnamese representative agencies abroad; and innovating governance methods to evaluate officials based on concrete results and products linked with performance indicator systems.

Simultaneously, the quality of strategic research, forecasting, and foreign policy advisory work must be improved; mechanisms should be established for early identification of issues impacting national interests to proactively respond, avoiding passivity or surprise in any situation; and decentralization and delegation of authority should be strengthened alongside the accountability of representative agencies—building a cadre of diplomatic officials with comprehensive knowledge of economics, technology, law, and international integration.

The Prime Minister also required continued consolidation of traditional markets, alongside proactive expansion and diversification of markets and partners to mitigate risks amidst a volatile global economy. Efforts must be stepped up to remove bottlenecks in international cooperation while tracking and urging the execution of high-level commitments and agreements.

Coordination among ministries, sectors, localities, and Vietnamese representative agencies abroad must be enhanced to assist businesses in expanding markets, attracting investment, and driving large-scale projects, high-tech projects, strategic infrastructure, and export growth.

Focus must be placed on creating breakthroughs in science-technology diplomacy, innovation, digital transformation, and attracting high-quality investment paired with technology transfer, human resource training, and increasing localization rates.

In addition, it is necessary to continue perfecting the economic diplomacy database platform connected with national databases—contributing to raising management efficiency and successfully achieving national development targets in the new phase.

Le Hoang