Proactive diplomacy helps raise Vietnam’s stature in int’l arena: Cuban expert

Havana (VNA) – A proactive diplomacy that pursues peace is the key helping Vietnam obtain achievements during its integration into the world over the past years and raise its stature in the international arena, a Cuban expert has said.

In a recent interview granted to the Vietnam News Agency, Dr Ruvislei González Sáez, Vice Chairman of the Cuba - Vietnam Friendship Association, spoke highly of the comprehensiveness and consistency in the principle of building an international environment of peace, stability, and mutual respect in Vietnam’s foreign policy under the Party’s leadership.

He held that although some areas or economic indexes of Vietnam have yet to reach the level of a middle power, its diplomacy has achieved this level in comparison with other countries. This could be seen in 2010 and 2020, when the country held the rotational chairmanship of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

Efforts to persuade other countries’ recognition of Vietnam as a market economy are an example of the Vietnamese diplomacy’s direct contributions to the realisation of national development targets, he noted.

The popularisation of values and practices has substantially helped the country increase foreign direct investment, create more jobs, and boost chances to access advanced technologies, which has evidenced the harmony between diplomatic activities and socio-economic interests, according to González.

He expressed his belief that in the time ahead, Vietnam will also record great strides in cultural diplomacy to contribute to overall diplomatic achievements and help international friends have better understanding of its identity like what some neighbouring Asian nations have done.

Regarding the Vietnam - Cuba relations, the expert said people-to-people exchange has the key role to play in further enhancing the special bilateral ties, adding that the strong mutual trust, the Party and State leaders’ resolve, and the special sentiment between the two peoples have been making the countries’ relations a role model of the era./.