Opening of the 18th National Foreign Affairs Conference

On the morning of August 21, in Hanoi, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs opened the 18th National Foreign Affairs Conference with the theme "Improving the effectiveness of local foreign affairs to serve development and integration".

Delegates attending the Conference. Photo: VGP/Hai Minh

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh, representatives of ministries, branches and localities, heads of Vietnamese representative agencies abroad and foreign affairs officials nationwide attended the Conference.

In an interview with the press ahead of the Conference, Deputy Prime Minister Pham Binh Minh emphasized that the Conference was held right before the 29th Diplomatic Conference with the goal of linking the foreign affairs activities of provinces and cities with the general foreign affairs activities of the whole country.

At the conference, delegates will review the local foreign affairs work in the past time, and discuss measures to further improve the effectiveness of local foreign affairs work in the coming time as well as the "constructive" role of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in this field of work.

The conference took place after Vietnam successfully held the 12th National Party Congress, which set out the country's development direction for the next five years, including foreign policy. In 2013, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs also established a local Foreign Affairs Department to support provinces and cities in strengthening integration and external relations.

In fact, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has always accompanied and supported provinces and cities in foreign affairs, from introducing and expanding relations with countries and localities of countries to providing information about partners and introducing countries to localities.

The Ministry has also organized many specific activities such as conferences, seminars, invited ambassadors of countries in Vietnam to visit localities, supported localities to meet and connect with specific and necessary addresses.

According to Chinhphu.vn