The diplomatic sector has significantly contributed to maintaining a peaceful, stable environment favourable for national development, as well as national security, according to Bui Thanh Son, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs.
Bui Thanh Son, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, speaks at the January 27 working session of the ongoing 13th National Party Congress. (Photo: VNA)The diplomatic sector has
significantly contributed to maintaining a peaceful, stable environment
favourable for national development, as well as national security, according to
Bui Thanh Son, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs.
In a presentation at a working session of the
ongoing 13th National Party Congress on January 27, Son said the
sector has made noted contributions over the past five years through a good combination
of Party, State and people-to-people diplomacy.
During the 12th tenure, despite great
difficulties and challenges, with the latest the COVID-19 pandemic and the
global economic downturn, fierce competitions between powers, along with
emerging security issues, Vietnam’s diplomacy has joined hands with the entire
Party, people and army to successfully implement external affair guidelines set
by the 12th National Party Congress.
In the past tenure, Vietnam has set up comprehensive
partnership with five more countries and upgraded relations with two others to
a strategic partnership, raising the total numbers of its strategic partners to
17 and comprehensive partners to 13, including all permanent members of the
United Nations Security Council and ASEAN member nations.
The diplomatic sector has partnered with national
defence and security forces in safeguarding the country’s sovereignty over its
sea and islands.
Amidst the complex development of the East Sea
issue, Vietnam has been able to mobilise international support to oppose
unilateral infringement, advocate the settlement of disputes through peaceful
measures in line with international law, while maintaining stable relations
with relevant neighbouring countries, Son said.
Regarding land border, the official highlighted the
ratification of two legal documents recognising the completion of 84 percent of
work in border demarcation and marker planting between Vietnam and Cambodia.
The country has also coordinated well with Laos and
China in managing their common border lines.
Thanks to such efforts, the country has built and
consolidated a land border of peace, friendship, cooperation and development
with all neighbours, he stressed.
The sector has also helped to attract huge resources
for national socio-economic development and reform, he said, citing the signing
of five free trade agreements (FTAs), including new-generation, high-standard
ones with key partners, which put Vietnam at the centre of a network of 16 regional
FTAs.
In his report, Son also reviewed citizen protection
work in the 12th tenure, with about 80,000 Vietnamese citizens
brought home from more than 60 countries and territories worldwide amidst
COVID-19. More than 50,000 citizens, including nearly 10,000 fishermen, have
received protection during the past tenure.
Overseas Vietnamese have put more trust in the Party
and the State, and actively contributed to national construction in terms of
both knowledge and economic resources, sending home nearly 90 billion USD in
remittance during the 2016-2020 period, according to the official.
Son said diplomacy has played a significant role in
raising the country’s position, as reflected through its hosting of the
Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in 2017, the World Economic
Forum on ASEAN in 2018, the 26th Annual Meeting of the Asia-Pacific
Parliamentary Forum in 2018, the summit between the US and the Democratic
People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) in
2019, its ASEAN and AIPA Chairmanship last year, and non-permanent membership
of the UN Security Council for 2020-2021.
Son attributed those achievements to the Party’s
sound, comprehensive and absolute leadership, the flexible application of
President Ho Chi Minh’s diplomatic ideology, as well as the country’s flexible adaptation
to changes.
He proposed key tasks in external affairs in the
upcoming tenure, including deepening political trust and combining interests with
30 strategic and comprehensive partners, with development put at the centre of
relations, and Asia-Pacific as the strategic region, while enhancing relations
with other potential partners in the region.
It is a must to step up international integration
intensively and extensively, advance multilateral diplomacy, and more actively
engage in such multilateral mechanisms like ASEAN, the UN and Mekong
cooperation, he continued.
More efforts are needed to promote multilateralism
and international law, he said, highlighting the significance of economic
diplomacy in national development.
Diplomacy should join in preventing and eliminating
security risks early on and from afar through promoting dialogues, building
trust, and advocating preventive diplomacy and respect for law, the Deputy
Minister emphasised.
Diplomacy will continue to serve as a firm bridge
connecting 5.3 million Vietnamese abroad with their homeland, enabling them to
contribute to national development and integration, Son said/.