Overseas Vietnamese missions urged to further accelerate economic diplomacy

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh recently chaired a hybrid-format conference on July 22, connecting the Government headquarters in Hanoi with 94 Vietnamese overseas diplomatic missions and 34 provincial and municipal People's Committees. The primary objective of this event was to bolster economic diplomacy, aiming to support Vietnam's growth target for the second half of 2025 and establish a robust foundation for achieving double-digit growth in the coming years.

A report presented at the conference highlighted Vietnam's strong external activities in the first half of 2025. The nation conducted nearly 50 major external activities led by key leaders, elevated diplomatic ties with 10 countries, and signed an impressive 253 cooperation agreements, a figure double that of 2024. These agreements primarily focused on economic, trade, investment, and science-technology cooperation. Concurrently, Vietnam's overseas diplomatic missions hosted almost 300 economic diplomacy events, including trade, investment, and tourism promotions. They also assisted localities in organizing over 150 promotion activities both domestically and internationally, and facilitated 30 agreements between Vietnamese localities and international partners.

During the conference, Vietnamese ambassadors and heads of overseas missions pledged to maintain practical and effective diplomatic efforts. Their focus areas include economic, trade, investment, scientific and technological cooperation, and innovation, all geared towards helping Vietnam effectively adapt to global shifts and contribute to national growth and economic restructuring. Leaders from various ministries, sectors, localities, and business associations urged the missions to continue serving as vital bridges, providing crucial market information and expanding cooperation opportunities. They also called for enhanced efforts to promote Vietnam's image, its people, and its investment potential globally.

In his concluding remarks, Prime Minister Chinh affirmed that foreign affairs had been a significant highlight in Vietnam's achievements during the first half of 2025, acknowledging the substantial contributions of the diplomatic missions. The Prime Minister instructed overseas missions to closely monitor developments in their respective regions, provide timely strategic advice, and ensure the Party and State are well-prepared to navigate foreign affairs challenges. This proactive approach aims to foster a stable and cooperative international environment essential for achieving Vietnam's national growth target of 8.3–8.5% in 2025.

The missions were also called upon to uphold Vietnam’s consistent foreign policy of independence, self-reliance, multilateralization, and diversification, thereby reinforcing the country's commitment to being a reliable partner and a responsible member of the international community. This strategy involves building a resilient, globally integrated economy through proactive restructuring and diversification of markets, products, and supply chains.

Prime Minister Chinh underscored economic diplomacy as central to Vietnam’s foreign affairs, aligning with directives from Party General Secretary To Lam. He urged stronger global connectivity, fostering links between Vietnamese enterprises and international partners, accelerating the advancement of new free trade agreements (FTAs), and attracting skilled talent while training high-quality human resources. He also encouraged deeper engagement with overseas Vietnamese experts, particularly in science, technology, and innovation, to support the nation's modernization drive.

The Prime Minister further requested efforts to deepen ties with neighboring countries, major powers, and strategic partners in a profound, stable, practical, and sustainable manner, built on trust and shared interests. He called for innovative solutions to address challenges in bilateral relations and emphasized the effective coordination of high-level diplomatic events through flexible, multi-level engagement.

To drive growth, the Government leader urged continued efforts to revitalize traditional growth engines while vigorously developing new ones. This encompasses promoting both outbound and inbound investment, and fostering collaboration in cutting-edge fields such as science and technology, innovation, digital transformation, high-tech industries, semiconductors, artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and the Internet of Things (IoT). He stressed the importance of expanding export markets, fully leveraging existing FTAs, and finalizing new ones with promising markets including the Middle East, Africa, Latin America, Central Asia, India, and Brazil. Additionally, he emphasized supporting businesses in key industries like electronics, automobiles, textiles, and machinery to boost exports and integrate further into global supply chains.

Prime Minister Chinh also called for the swift implementation of National Assembly Resolution No. 222/2025/QH15, which focuses on developing an international financial center in Vietnam, noting the interest of the UAE and Kazakhstan in sharing their expertise. He requested action on recent Politburo resolutions concerning science, technology, innovation, and digital transformation, as well as the removal of barriers to foreign investment projects. The Prime Minister also stressed the need to support localities and businesses in overcoming obstacles to foreign investment projects and partnerships both domestically and internationally.

Finally, the Prime Minister directed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to lead the drafting of a National Assembly resolution on special mechanisms to implement the Politburo's Resolution 59 on proactive and comprehensive international integration. He agreed to consider establishing sectoral and thematic research centers and urged continued efforts to have the EU’s IUU (Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated) yellow card on Vietnam’s seafood exports lifted. He also called for the conclusion of FTA negotiations with MERCOSUR and the acceleration of railway connectivity projects between Vietnam and China, such as the Lao Cai-Hanoi-Hai Phong railway line. While acknowledging that the 8.3–8.5% growth target for 2025 presents a significant challenge, Prime Minister Chinh expressed confidence in its achievability, urging close coordination among ministries, sectors, localities, businesses, associations, and overseas missions to effectively advance economic diplomacy and lay the groundwork for Vietnam's confident entry into a new era of development.