Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh: Accelerate and promote economic diplomacy

Co-chairing the conference was comrade Bui Thanh Son - Member of the Party Central Committee, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs.

The conference was held in person and online at the Government headquarters with 94 Vietnamese representative agencies abroad and 34 People's Committees of provinces and cities.

At Nghe An bridge, Comrade Phung Thanh Vinh - Member of the Provincial Party Executive Committee, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee chaired. Also attending were representatives of provincial departments, branches and sectors.

Proactive, practical, opening up many new directions

According to the report of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs: In the first 6 months of 2025, economic diplomacy work was carried out by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and ministries, branches, localities and enterprises with a determined, proactive, specific and practical spirit, opening up many new directions and achieving many important results.

Specifically, in the first 6 months of 2025, our country upgraded relations with 10 countries, signed 253 cooperation agreements, double that of 2024, in which economics, trade, investment, science and technology are the focus.

Also in the first 6 months of 2025, Vietnamese representative agencies abroad carried out nearly 300 economic diplomacy activities, trade promotion, investment, and tourism; supported the organization of more than 150 trade and investment promotion activities of localities at home and abroad; supported provinces and cities to sign 30 agreements with international partners.

In Nghe An province, in the first 6 months of 2025, Directive No. 15-CT/TW dated August 10, 2022 of the Secretariat on economic diplomacy to serve national development until 2030; Resolution No. 21/NQ-CP dated February 20, 2023 of the Government promulgating the Government's Action Program for the period 2022-2026 have been vigorously and closely implemented. Thanks to that, Nghe An's economic diplomacy has changed dramatically.

Notably, the province has successfully organized delegations of provincial leaders to work in China, the UK, Germany, the Russian Federation, Singapore and accompanied General Secretary To Lam on a state visit to the Republic of Indonesia, an official visit to the Republic of Singapore and the ASEAN Secretariat with key activities on economic cooperation, such as working with local business associations, corporations and large enterprises.

Economic and trade cooperation between Nghe An province and provinces of Laos is increasingly effective.

The province cooperates with industrial park infrastructure investors (VSIP, WHA, Hoang Thinh Dat) to strongly promote FDI attraction activities in the Southeast Economic Zone of Nghe An province.

As of June 30, 2025, foreign direct investment (FDI) had been newly granted to 8 projects, with a total registered investment capital of 76.2 million USD, capital adjustment for 7 projects, an increase of 215.9 million USD; total newly granted and adjusted capital was 292.1 million USD.

Currently, Nghe An province is mobilizing 4 new projects using ODA loans and preferential loans with a total estimated investment of 3,190,732 billion VND.

Up to now, there is 1 project completing the investment proposal report and 3 projects are in the process of project proposal procedures. The newly proposed projects focus on the fields of climate change response and sustainable growth.

At the conference, delegates focused on discussing, evaluating results, drawing lessons from the implementation of economic diplomacy in recent times; analyzing and evaluating in depth the shortcomings, limitations, and subjective causes.

From there, identify appropriate, feasible, and practical tasks and solutions, both short-term and long-term, to strengthen and create breakthroughs for the key points of economic diplomacy in the coming time, making economic diplomacy a basic and central task of foreign affairs, becoming an important driving force serving the country's development as in the spirit of Directive No. 15 of the Secretariat, contributing to the country's acceleration to successfully complete the 5-year socio-economic development plan (2021-2025).

Creating breakthroughs in growth drivers

Concluding the conference, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh highly appreciated the economic diplomacy work in recent times that has been implemented synchronously and comprehensively by ministries, branches, localities, Vietnamese representative agencies abroad, and the business community, achieving important results, opening up new opportunities for socio-economic development and making increasingly effective and substantial contributions to the country's overall achievements.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh affirmed: Foreign affairs is a bright spot in the country's work results in the first 6 months of 2025, including the contributions of Vietnamese representative agencies abroad.

To carry out tasks in the coming time, the Prime Minister requested Vietnamese representative agencies abroad to grasp the local situation; analyze, evaluate, and give timely advice so that Party and State leaders are not surprised in foreign affairs; and create an environment of peace, cooperation, and development.

According to the Prime Minister, to ensure the growth target of 8.3 - 8.5% in 2025, Vietnam needs to implement a foreign policy oriented towards independence, self-reliance, diversification, multilateralization, being a good friend, a reliable partner, a responsible member of the international community, for the goal of peace, cooperation and development; building an independent, self-reliant economy associated with proactive, active international integration, deeply, substantially and effectively; restructuring the economy, restructuring and diversifying markets, products and supply chains.

The Prime Minister emphasized: Economic diplomacy is the focus of foreign affairs and diplomacy in the new period as directed by General Secretary To Lam.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh also requested connecting economies, connecting Vietnamese enterprises with other countries; promoting the signing of free trade agreements agreed upon by senior leaders; attracting talents, training high-quality human resources, effectively exploiting the network of Vietnamese experts abroad, especially in the fields of science, technology, and innovation to serve the country's development and modernization.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh directed to continue to deepen relations with neighboring countries, major countries, and important partners, making them stable, substantive, sustainable, and long-term on the basis of trust, sincerity, and harmonization of interests, creating new breakthroughs, and effectively resolving major issues arising in the relationship; promoting and organizing high-level foreign affairs activities well; diversifying and flexibly using forms of exchange and contact at all levels and channels; and creating a favorable environment for enhanced cooperation.

Vietnamese ministries, branches and agencies in other countries continue to prioritize promoting growth, focusing on renewing traditional growth drivers, while strongly promoting new growth drivers; promoting overseas investment and attracting investment in Vietnam, especially promoting cooperation in developing science, technology, innovation, digital transformation, high technology, semiconductors, artificial intelligence, cloud computing, internet of things...

Along with that, expand export markets, effectively exploit signed free trade agreements (FTAs), promote the signing of new FTAs ​​with potential markets such as the Middle East, Africa, Latin America, Central Asia, India, Brazil...; actively support businesses in key processing and manufacturing industries such as technology, electronics, automobiles, machinery, textiles, footwear... to expand exports, invest, do business effectively abroad, and participate in the global supply chain.

The Prime Minister requested to proactively and actively implement the Politburo's Resolutions on breakthroughs in science and technology development, innovation and digital transformation; continue to proactively and flexibly adapt to the new situation in international trade and investment; actively and resolutely support localities and enterprises, remove obstacles in investment projects, and business cooperation with foreign partners in Vietnam as well as foreign markets.

Believing that the task of achieving the growth target of 8.3 - 8.5% in 2025 is very heavy and difficult, but not an impossible task, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh requested ministries, branches, localities, enterprises, associations and Vietnamese representative agencies abroad to coordinate closely, strive together, make efforts to overcome difficulties and challenges, effectively carry out economic diplomacy; contribute to achieving this year's growth target, create momentum, create position and create strength for our country to firmly enter the new era.