Foreign affairs have contributed significantly to Vietnam’s multi-faceted achievements during its reform process over the last three decades, according to Deputy Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son.

Deputy Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son.

The country has set up diplomatic ties with almost every nation in the world, including 185 out of the 193 UN members, he said.

Vietnam has joined 70 regional and international organisations, and played an active, proactive and responsible role at these establishments. The country’s position has been increased in international and regional arena, and received compliments on its initiatives.

The country has established strategic partnerships with 15 countries, and comprehensive partnerships with 10 more. It has all-around cooperation with traditional friends in different regions. These relations lay the foundation for the country to further deepen bonds between Vietnam and foreign nations in all fields, especially economics, trade and investment.

The country has taken full advantage of assistance from international friends to promote national socio-economic development and safeguard its sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Deputy Minister Son said that diplomacy has played a role both as a pioneer and a core force in external affairs by stepping up diplomatic activities to serve economic development, thus contributing to attracting external resources to accelerate the country’s renewal process.

Around 270 billion USD in foreign investment has been poured into Vietnam so far. The country has also received a large amount of official development assistance (ODA) and non-governmental cooperation aid to eliminate hunger and reduce poverty, as well as narrow the development gap among regions nationwide.

Vietnam has built borders of peace and friendship with neighbouring countries, completed land border demarcations and landmarks with Laos and China, and achieved positive results with Cambodia.

The country has signed agreements of sea demarcation with China, Thailand, Indonesia, Cambodia and Malaysia, while firmly opposing actions that infringe national sovereignty and territorial integration, and seeking peaceful measures to solve disputes with other nations.

Vietnam has also made important achievements in multilateral diplomacy. The country has joined the Association of Southeast Asian nations and other forums such as the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) and UN organisations, making active contributions to the forums’ development. The country was elected to the UN Human Rights Council for the 2014-2016 tenure, UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee from 2013-2017 and the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) from 2016-2018.

External information work related to assisting and protecting Vietnamese expatriates has been given due attention. A series of activities to connect nationals at home and abroad have been arranged, which helped affirm the country’s consistent view that overseas Vietnamese communities are an indispensable part of the nation.

The Deputy Minister underlined the need for the whole political system to get involved in external activities in order to speed up international integration.

VNA