Hanoi, January 2, 2026 – The Europe Today: Vietnam’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Lê Hoài Trung, has highlighted the country’s diplomatic achievements in 2025 and their contributions to strategic national goals in a New Year article published to mark 2026.
Trung, who also serves as Secretary of the Party Central Committee, emphasized that Vietnam’s external affairs, firmly guided by the foreign policy outlined at the 13th National Party Congress, delivered substantive results across bilateral and multilateral diplomacy last year. These accomplishments, he noted, have helped maintain a peaceful and stable environment, attract external resources for development, and steadily elevate Vietnam’s international standing.
Bilateral diplomacy in 2025 was characterized by dynamic and wide-ranging activities, particularly high-level visits and engagements by top Party and State leaders. Vietnam upgraded relations with 17 partners, bringing the total number of countries with comprehensive or higher-level partnerships to 42. This includes all five permanent members of the UN Security Council and 18 of the 21 G20 nations. High-level visits resulted in the signing of nearly 350 cooperation agreements, 2.5 times more than in 2024, reflecting increased effectiveness and substance in bilateral ties.
Trung underscored the importance of relations with neighboring countries, which strengthened political trust, reinforced defense and security cooperation, and achieved breakthroughs in economic, trade, investment, infrastructure connectivity, and cultural and people-to-people exchanges. Relations with major powers, important partners, and regional nations deepened, underpinned by enhanced strategic trust and yielding progress in trade, technology, innovation, digital transformation, energy, education, healthcare, and responses to non-traditional security challenges. Traditional partnerships and ties with countries across Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, Africa, and the Global South were also expanded, fostering practical collaboration.
On the multilateral front, Vietnam achieved significant results in line with Politburo Resolution 59 on international integration and the Party Secretariat’s Directive 25 on advancing multilateral diplomacy. The minister also highlighted strides in economic, scientific, technological, cultural, and people-to-people diplomacy, including the protection of citizens in crisis areas and a record remittance inflow exceeding US$16 billion.
Looking ahead, Trung stressed that the diplomatic sector’s immediate priority is to fully grasp and implement the foreign policy agenda of the upcoming 14th National Party Congress, formulating action plans to translate the Party’s new viewpoints and state policies into concrete, measurable results. He emphasized that the early period of the 2026–2030 leadership term presents a crucial opportunity to generate momentum for Vietnam’s next phase of development.
