Foreign affairs have left notable imprints in the past five years, making important contributions to Vietnam’s overall achievements in the period, said Vietnamese Ambassador to the US Nguyen Quoc Dung in an interview with the Vietnam News Agency’s correspondent in Washington.
The ambassador noted that the 2020–2025 period was marked by profound global upheavals, including epidemics, wars, natural disasters and strategic competition, posing serious challenges for all nations. Amid these “stormy seas,” Vietnam has remained resilient, achieving strong development, enhancing its national capacity and standing, and steadily improving people’s living standards. Foreign affairs, he stressed, played an important role in these achievements.
He said that in the period, foreign policy has been implemented comprehensively across three pillars - Party diplomacy, State diplomacy and people-to-people diplomacy.
Foreign affairs played an important role in maintaining a peaceful and stable international and regional environment; expanding friendships and partnerships without creating adversaries; deepening international integration to attract and effectively utilise external resources for development, including markets, investment, science and technology, and human resources training; and promoting the image of a confident, resilient Vietnam actively contributing to global affairs, he highlighted.
Assessing Vietnam’s growing position and credibility as it upgraded relations with many major powers during the period, including the establishment of a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership with the US, Dung emphasised that international relations are inherently two-way or multi-dimensional and cannot be formed by unilateral will alone. The fact that major powers have proactively elevated ties with Vietnam clearly reflects the country’s rising stature and trust on the global stage. These milestones not only bring bilateral benefits but also contribute meaningfully to peace, cooperation and development worldwide, representing objective recognition of Vietnam’s increasingly important role in today’s global security and economic architecture, he stated.
Regarding Vietnam–US relations, the ambassador described the 50-year journey since the end of the war and 30 years of normalisation of relations as an impressive chapter. From confrontation, the two countries have set aside the past to become comprehensive partners and later comprehensive strategic partners, serving as a model of reconciliation in international relations based on respect for each other's independence, sovereignty and political regimes. Vietnam has become a priority destination for most major US corporations, the eighth-largest trading partner of the US, and the leading country in Southeast Asia in terms of student numbers in the US.
Regarding expectations for breakthrough decisions at the 14th National Party Congress to realise the goal of building a thriving Vietnam by 2045, the diplomat highlighted three key strategic orientations.
First, he underscored the decisive role of human factors, expressing his hope that Party policies would further unleash and maximise the potential of the Vietnamese people. Second, he called for breakthroughs in institutional reform to create a modern development environment. Third, he stressed the importance of a sound and wise foreign policy that firmly safeguards national interests while actively contributing to peace, stability and cooperation worldwide.
Sharing insights from his experience working closely with the Vietnamese community in the US, the ambassador said overseas Vietnamese, regardless of where they live, share a common aspiration for a strong, independent and prosperous Vietnam that can stand shoulder to shoulder with global powers, as President Ho Chi Minh once envisioned. The Party and State’s decades-long achievements provide a solid foundation for confidence in the Party’s correct leadership. Each Party Congress, he noted, marks a new milestone that generates fresh momentum for national development.
Vietnamese expatriates in the US, he added, expect the 14th National Party Congress to create new breakthroughs in fostering great national unity, encouraging all Vietnamese people to work together with enthusiasm to usher the country into a new era — an era of strong national rise./.
