Economic diplomacy serves as a powerful catalyst for Vietnam's development, which urgently needs to promote cooperation in strategic areas to secure national interests.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh addresses the conference. Photos: Nhat Bac

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh underscored this view at a national conference on economic diplomacy on July 3.

He emphasized that while Vietnam's economy enjoys a high degree of openness, it remains challenged by its modest size, limited competitiveness, and vulnerability to external shocks.

The traditional markets on which Vietnam heavily relies are experiencing a significant contraction, resulting in a significant decline in imports of around 50%.

In this context, the prime minister stressed the importance of resilience and determination in facing difficulties and challenges, especially in pursuing diplomatic and economic efforts.

"With inflation under control and gradually declining, Vietnam's priority is to stimulate growth by focusing on three key drivers: consumption, investment and exports," PM Chinh said.

Looking ahead to the year-end, the prime minister stressed the need to embrace the spirit of "bamboo diplomacy," to effectively seize cooperation opportunities while ensuring a balanced strategic approach and maintaining harmonious relations with major and important partners.

Drawing on the successful approach of vaccine diplomacy during the Covid-19 pandemic, where there were no restrictions on diplomatic efforts as long as they proved effective, the prime minister directed the diplomatic sector to prioritize the country's interests, the well-being of its people, and the pursuit of tangible and high-quality results.

He also emphasized upholding international solidarity and multilateralism, and putting the people first as the subject and the driving force.

The Prime Minister laid out a main direction that focuses on promoting new drivers of growth, namely digital transformation, green development, circular economy, sharing economy, innovation, and diversification of markets, products, and supply chains. These guidelines should be accompanied by specific preferential policies to support these sectors, he said.

Overview of the conference.

Emphasizing the key role of economic diplomacy in accelerating and sustaining development, the prime minister stressed the need to promote cooperation mechanisms in strategic areas such as infrastructure development, semiconductors, hydrogen, renewable energy, biotechnology, agriculture, and quality human resource training. He also highlighted greater cooperation for climate response.

PM Chinh said it's necessary to seize all available opportunities to stimulate economic growth, particularly in investment and exports. At the same time, attention was drawn to the importance of improving product quality and strengthening key markets for export commodities, including agricultural products and fruits, which have significant development potential.

In addition, the prime minister emphasized the effective promotion of signed free trade agreements (FTAs) and the expansion of the FTA network with promising partners.

Attracting high-quality foreign direct investment (FDI), especially in emerging sectors, utilizing official development assistance (ODA) and concessional loans, were also highlighted by the prime minister. 

The prime minister also valued the role of robust international tourism recovery by effectively utilizing the newly revised visa and entry/exit policies to boost tourism. He called for greater efforts to advance the export of labor, particularly to countries facing labor shortages in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Ambassadors and heads of representative missions abroad for the 2023-2026 term worked with nine ministries, several sectors, over 100 associations, and large enterprises. Their goal was to learn what kind of support is needed to foster cooperation and address challenges and barriers to promoting cooperation.