Prime Minister calls for breakthroughs in economic diplomacy
VGP - Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh has called for breakthroughs in economic diplomacy in favor of double-digit growth from 2026 onward.
Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh addresses the virtual meeting with Vietnamese representative missions abroad, January 10, 2026. Photo: VGP/Nhat Bac
Prime Minister Pham made the call while addressing the virtual meeting with Vietnamese representative missions abroad last Saturday.
The Prime Minister emphasized the need to prioritize international cooperation in science and technology, innovation, digital transformation, and the green transition, as well as other key areas such as sustainable energy, smart city development, and tourism.
The Government leader underscored the importance of attracting major global technology corporations and mobilizing overseas Vietnamese scientists, while creating more favourable conditions for domestic enterprises to integrate deeper into the global value chains.
He tasked ministries, sectors, localities, and overseas diplomatic missions with promoting market diversification; effectively tapping high-potential markets in the Middle East, Africa, and South America; and accelerating the negotiation and signing of new free trade agreements (FTAs).
Pham also called for greater support for businesses—particularly small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)—through the development of a comprehensive support ecosystem covering finance, logistics, human resources, and legal frameworks.
The Prime Minister instructed the Ministry of Industry and Trade to soon finalize the “Go Global” program to support Vietnamese enterprises in expanding operations abroad.
Amid complex global economic and political landscape, Viet Nam's economic diplomacy in 2025 has been assessed as having "shifted its state," expanding external markets while improving the quality and effectiveness of international integration.
During the year, Viet Nam upgrade relations with 17 countries and signed nearly 350 cooperation agreements—2.5 times higher than in 2024. These efforts helped strengthen connectivity, attract external resources, and enhance the economy's resilience in the face of global trade and investment volatility.
Viet Nam continued to consolidate its traditional export markets and sustain foreign investment inflows, while making breakthroughs in emerging, high-potential markets such as Latin America, the Middle East–Africa, Central Asia, and Eastern Europe. As a result, Viet Nam ranked among the world's top 15 trading nations, with total foreign trade volume exceeding US$930 billion last year.
National branding and the promotion of Vietnamese products were further intensified, alongside innovative tourism promotion efforts, contributing to a strong recovery of the tourism and service sectors and supporting overall economic growth. More than 70 cooperation documents were signed at government, ministerial, enterprise, academic, and local levels, focusing on science and technology and other long-term strategic fields.
Economic diplomacy also played a key role in connecting Viet Nam with leading global technology corporations, facilitating major investment projects, and supporting Vietnamese tech firms in expanding cooperation and gradually accessing international markets. The network of overseas Vietnamese intellectuals continued to expand, with a database of around 5,000 experts, scholars, and entrepreneurs. The Southeast Asian nation plans to invite 100 top experts to return home for work.
Vietnamese diplomatic missions abroad carried out nearly 500 economic diplomacy activities, supporting over 150 trade and investment promotion events by localities and contributing to the signing of about 100 international cooperation agreements at the local level./.
