Foreign Ministry opens the 19th Foreign Affairs Conference

On August 12th, the 19th Foreign Affairs Conference was held at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Office  at No. 2, Le Quang Dao with the theme of  "Initiative, Creativity, Effective Integration and Sustainable Development".
The conference was organized in order to review the implementation of the results of the 18th Foreign Affairs Conference (2016) as well as to discuss and do an orientation of tasks in the future.
The conference was attended by leaders and units of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; representatives of the Central Commission for External Relations; Vietnam Union of Friendship Organizations; leaders of ministries, sectors and branches; and leaders of provinces and cities. Deputy PM, Foreign Minister Phạm Bình Minh delivered the opening speech and chaired the meeting.
8h35: In the opening speech, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh affirmed  that this is the fourth conference held with the Diplomatic Conference so that local delegates will not only grasp the  developments of the international and  regional situation, but also have the opportunity for local and central, domestic and foreign units to discuss methods to strengthen coordination, and  improve the effectiveness of external relations, in which the policy of deepening international integration is included.
"This is very significant because this conference takes place this year as the hinge between the term of implementing the Resolution of the 12th Party Congress and  the active  phase in implementing the policy and resolution on deep integration of the National Assembly and the localities on the five-year socio-economic development plan  of  2016-2020, to synchonize the  implementation of the three strategic breakthroughs, restructure the economy in association with the growth model , enhance the efficiency of foreign affairs, and international integration,” Deputy PM Pham Binh Minh emphasized.
The Deputy Prime Minister said that since the Conference of Foreign Affairs 18 in 2016 to date, the situation in the region and in the world continues to be complex and unpredictable. However, under the close attention and direction of the Party and  the State and  the unity and coordination from the central to all localities in the country, the external relations have been established systematically and efficiently to fulfill the tasks assigned by the Party, the State and the people, as they contribute to maintain a peaceful and stable environment, maintain independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity, and create conditions for economic - social development of the country.
It is important to note that both  the local foreign affairs and their partners made great contributions that resulted to achievements  such as the expansion  and  utilization of  our relationships with foreign partners, expansion  of our export markets, promotion of  trade, investment, and other  practical contributions to the developmental goals locally and nationwide ," Deputy PM Pham Binh Minh confirmed.
However, Deputy PM, Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh said that the external affairs should  honestly accept that the process of international integration at the central and local level is still poor. If the urgent issues are not resolved, they will be the bottlenecks and barriers to the process of international integration that would not only prevent us from taking advantage of the benefits of integration, but would also increase the risk of further lag.
Firstly, according to the Deputy Prime Minister, the awareness and concept of international integration in many places are not close to local reality and there is lack of long-term vision. There are also differences in understanding and implementation among different localities.
Secondly, although Vietnam's integration is deepening; it has not yet however fully utilized the opportunities provided by international integration to improve the quality of growth, capacity and competitiveness of the economy as well as the effectivity of response to challenges. In addition, the competitiveness of localities is not uniform, which results to differences of benefits of integration between the localities that lead to resource competition instead of cooperation and connection.
There will be opportunities in the face of the challenges in the future. In order to successfully implement the policy of the Party Congress XII, the Party's resolutions in the locality for the term of 2016-2021 on the deployment of external affairs and external affairs, including foreign affairs, Deputy Prime Minister Pham Binh Minh encouraged active, flexible, and strong innovative thinking, which are in line with the spirit of this Foreign Affairs Conference –"Active, creative, effective integration and sustainable development.” He also suggested delegates to focus on analyzing the shortcomings, finding the barriers and obstacles that hindered the foreign affairs of the localities in the past, taking effective measures to promote more local affairs, and improving the coordination between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Vietnamese representative offices in foreign countries and localities.
Specifically, the Deputy PM suggested at the meeting to focus on the following major points:
Firstly, it is necessary to drastically reform the thinking of international integration: to do an in-depth integration--  not only do "global thinking" to catch up with the world’s standard and speed of international integration of our country, the benefits of the multilateral free trade agreements, and the industrial revolution of 4.0, but also take "local actions", understand the needs of partners about our country, know what we need to improve the quality and brand name, competitiveness of enterprises, and support to sustainable development of local businesses/programs.
Secondly, it is necessary to focus strongly on the implementation of international integration associated with socio-economic development of the locality. The Government has adopted Resolution No. 38 on the implementation of international integration through the action program to implement Resolution No. 06-NQ / TW of the 4th plenum of the Party Central Committee, and have these tasks concretized in the annual work plan of each locality.
“Based on this, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and all the heads of the overseas Vietnamese representative missions are hereby ready to accompany the localities to carry out comprehensive local foreign affairs activities such as introducing investment cooperation, promotion of external economic relations, connection to market expansion, evaluation of partners and assistance in dealing with commercial disputes; support the implementation of the Cultural Diplomacy Strategy in the localities; assist them in implementing the strategy on foreign affairs, disseminating information for the promotion of local images and brands; to coordinate well with the consular work on the protection of citizens, fishermen, fishing vessels and overseas Vietnamese's work, "said Deputy PM Pham Binh Minh.
At the Conference, the Foreign Minister also requested that the local authorities  place specific orders for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs directly to the heads of the representative missions; that local consultants should be consulted on the industry, market "right partner, right branch", they  help the localities shorten the time and get reliable information.
Thirdly, in addition to harnessing the edge and potential of each locality, is it time for localities to reconsider their situation to work independently to reach the end goal, join hands, co-ordinate with other localities to promote the advantages of each region in cooperating with local partners / businesses?
"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and local foreign affairs will strengthen their coordination to support local development planning, economic linkage, branding, and attract local development resources," Prime Minister Pham Binh Minh affirmed.
Fourthly, to attract foreign investment (FDI), effectively use official development assistance (ODA) and foreign non-governmental aid.
"Vietnam has become a middle-income country and in the future will not continue to receive preferential loans but move to higher levels. In addition, the Government has also assigned the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to assume the prime responsibility to coordinate with the central and local agencies to amend Decree No. 12 in order to further attract and effectively manage foreign non-governmental aid in the future."- Deputy Prime Minister stressed.
In addition, Deputy Prime Minister Pham Binh Minh also directed that we should continue to consolidate the apparatus of local affairs to meet the requirements of industrialization, modernization and international integration today. Local foreign affairs agencies need to increase their involvement to contribute to researches and policy strategies in enhancing the efficiency of international integration and promptly propose solutions to remove difficulties in the implementation of international and regional integration commitments.
"The requirements and tasks of international integration that are set on the forthcoming 19 th Foreign Missions Conference are getting higher, and the expectation for the contribution of local foreign affairs and the mission to the development of localities, businesses are growing," Deputy Prime Minister Pham Binh Minh said.
8h50: Speaking at the Foreign Affairs Conference, Director of Foreign Affairs Department Nguyen Hoang Long asserted that, in the context of global and regional situation, there are many complicated and unpredictable changes that caused intertwined and multifaceted effects on the security and developmental environment of Vietnam, a country that  is still developing rapidly and quite comprehensive in almost all areas.
In that general context, the localities which have thoroughly grasped the principles, views and guiding principles of the Party and Government, and closely coordinated with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and other committees, ministries and branches of the Party. As for external activities, there were important contributions to successful implementation of common tasks and one such outstanding achievement is the APEC Vietnam in 2017, contributing to the success of the foreign affairs front in many specific fronts such as foreign economic relations, heritage, Vietnamese work in the country, external relations, border security, consular affairs, management and organization of international conferences, and local inspections.
According to Mr. Nguyen Hoang Long, on the basis of the close attention of the Deputy Prime Minister, Minister Pham Binh Minh and the Ministry's leaders, units of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Vietnamese representatives in foreign countries have been active in enhancing local support for foreign affairs in all areas, with an emphasis on external relations.
Together with that, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs also supports the localities to strengthen the external relations system by focusing on the development of legal documents, creating a legal venue for external affairs and regularly organizing the trainings for local officials in the localities according to the Prime Minister's programs and the requirements of each locality at the same time.
However, the Director of the External Relations Department also said that besides the above-mentioned results, the local affairs of the foreign affairs still face some problems and there is a need for remedial measures to be implemented more effectively in the future, in the context where our country is active and comprehensive in its implementation of international integration.
Accordingly, the units in the Ministry, the representative offices of Vietnam in foreign countries and localities need to grasp, study and set new directions in a  more effective and practical way. The diplomatic sector in the future will closely follow the direction of action adopted at the conference to continue integrating and supporting the localities for the improvement and effectivity of foreign affairs that serves in effective integration and sustainable development. .
9h: In his speech, Mr. Bui Le Thai - Chief of the Office of External Relations of the Party Central Committee said that in recent years, regulations on unified management of foreign affairs have become an indispensable part. The management of external activities of agencies, organizations and localities plays an important role in ensuring the unified leadership of the Party, and the centralized management of the State for activities for the one-step synchronization of regulations relating to external affairs.
Based on the actual situations and requirements of the foreign affairs in each period, the Politburo has adjusted 3 times, and has supplemented and promulgated regulations on unified management of external activities. Regulation 3 and the current Regulation - commonly known as Regulation 272, was issued on 21/01/2015. Inheriting the positive aspects of Regulations 101 and 295 before, as well as drawing experience from the practice of unified management of external activities, Regulation 272 includes clearer and more specific regulations, principles of leadership and management, deciding competence, procedures and working style, coordinating mechanism among focal agencies for unified management of external activities at the central level and agencies and organizations and local authorities in dealing with some foreign affairs.
Mr. Bui Le Thai said that in the localities, the work of thoroughly understanding and specifying Regulation 272 was implemented quite seriously.
Up to now, 59/63 localities have issued regulations on uniform management of external activities in the area. After 3 years of implementation, all localities have considered Regulation 272, Guideline 01 of the Central Commission for External Relations and the regulation on unified management of foreign affairs of their respective localities and to effectively direct and manage external activities.
As a result, the leadership and management of external activities of localities has been increasingly strengthened, ensuring the initiative and promoting the sense of responsibility of agencies and units; its activities and programs have been synchronized and comprehensively implemented, limited and overlapped-- ensuring thrift, effectivity and suitability to the practical situation,  the need for expanding the cooperation of  localities, importance to the requirements of ensuring security and politics; contributing positively to the socio-economic development of localities.
9h15: At the meeting, Mr. Don Tuan Phong - Vice President of Vietnam Union of Friendship Organizations held a speech on the contribution of people's external affairs to the Party and State diplomatic activities.
Accordingly, as a political-social organization in charge of people's external affairs, backed by the Friendship Union for External Relations and the State Diplomacy, the strong development has contributed positively to the preservation of the peaceful environment, the expansion of friendly and cooperative relations and the creation of international conditions conducive to the renewal and raising of the country's position in the international arena.
With the motto “active, flexible, creative and effective," the Friendship Union has expanded and diversified its friendship and cooperation with the people through their external relations channel, together with the external relations of the Party and State diplomatic development in-depth cooperation with neighboring countries, strategic partnerships countries and countries in important positions in foreign policy of Vietnam." Mr. Don Tuan Phong confirmed.
In addition, the Union of Friendship effectively participated in the Party's and State's external information and communication activities with a number of high-quality external information products to take the initiative in promoting the key role in the common external activities of the Vietnamese people's organizations.
Between 2001 and 2017, disbursement aid reached nearly $ 4 billion. The network of local Friendship Unions and local foreign agencies, the focal point for foreign NGO work has been strengthened and expanded. Moreover, the role and position of the Friendship Unions together with foreign agencies are increasingly enhanced.
After confirming that the results of the Friendship Association and its member organizations in recent years is remarkable, Mr. Don Tuan Phong also said that the cooperation between the people's external relations and the diplomacy of the government has not yet met the requirements of the new situation, and has not utilized the advantages and characteristics of the people's external relations to support the Party external relations and State diplomacy.
Therefore, in order to enhance the effective coordination between the people's external relations with the Party and State diplomacy, the Vice President of the Friendship Union recommends the strengthening of the exchange of external information through the continuation and maintainance of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs mechanism to provide information to ministries, branches, localities, press agencies and other exchange mechanisms, to define the mechanism, methods and content of coordination between the State diplomacy and the people's external relations, to promote the elaboration and signing of the Regulation on coordination between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Friendship Unionand to support trainings for the people's external relations.
Besides, it is necessary to continue building the organization and the people's external affairs workforce in the localities under the Party Central Committee's Secretariat's Directive No. 28-CT / TW to improve the effectiveness of the Friendship Union, ,to strengthening the coordination between Party external relations, State diplomacy and people's external relations in localities, and at the same time to raise the efficiency of external activities in general and external activities of the people in particular according to the motto,"Active, Flexible, Creative, Effective".

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