Positioning Vietnam on the global soft power map

According to the Brand Finance Group's report on the global soft power index in 2024 (Brand Finance Soft Power Index Report 2024), Vietnam has made a significant breakthrough, rising from 69th to 53rd place on the new rankings announced earlier this year.

Creativity to increase the "soft power" of Vietnamese culture

People's Diplomacy: Soft Power in International Relations

Female soldiers of Level 2 Field Hospital (No. 3) set off for a peacekeeping mission in South Sudan.

Recognition for outstanding efforts

It is worth mentioning that in the past 5 years, Vietnam's national soft power index has been increasingly improved. The highest position Vietnam has ever achieved is 43 (in 2018), however, at this time, only 100 countries were ranked.

This year, the list of scores has nearly doubled, with 193 UN member states. Accordingly, Vietnam's soft power index increased by 1.8 points across all categories, up 16 places compared to last year, and ranked 53rd. This is an encouraging step forward for Vietnam's outstanding efforts in economic, social, cultural development, political stability and gradually enhancing the value of the national brand.

In the context of the world facing many difficulties and challenges in many aspects, from the post-Covid-19 economic crisis to political and military conflicts in some regions, Vietnam has mobilized all domestic and foreign resources to solve immediate and long-term problems, gradually overcoming difficulties and improving its image and position.

According to Brand Finance, Vietnam has the opportunity to develop strongly in terms of economy, market size and brand image. On the one hand, these opportunities come from Vietnam's internal strength. On the other hand, the Government's policies and guidelines in creating a dynamic and expanding economy, as well as the efforts of ministries, sectors, business communities and social organizations have contributed to improving and promoting the country's brand value.

Quantifying soft power in national value development

Soft power is a broad category, synthesizing many factors, from politics, economics, culture, diplomacy, environment, to people. The concept of soft power, also known as soft power, was coined by American professor Joseph Nye in 1990, to refer to "another method" in the foreign policy of countries, to build position, prestige and sympathy in international relations, instead of imposing "hard" power such as military to establish influence.

The theory of soft power is no longer new in the past three decades, but the perspective on national development based on soft power still has its progressive value. On the one hand, this idea contributes to warning and restraining the abuse of force by big countries in international relations. On the other hand, and worth mentioning, it creates opportunities and encourages small countries to achieve positive position and influence in a peaceful, friendly and sustainable manner, based on the principle of value creation.

It is easy to understand why the concept of soft power has been linked to the concept of nation brand by researchers, policy makers and administrators. Instead of being understood in a general and general way, when associated with nation brand, soft power has been specifically quantified.

As a leading independent brand valuation and strategy consultancy in the world, Brand Finance has developed a soft power index, based on surveys of hundreds of thousands of people from hundreds of countries. The scale focuses on eight categories, or pillars of the national brand, including: business and trade, international relations, education and science, culture and heritage, governance, communication, sustainable development, people and values.

The scores of these eight categories, each of which includes a specific set of criteria, will contribute to the assessment of three core criteria of national soft power: reputation, influence and familiarity.

The Vietnamese national team participated in the International Chemistry Olympiad (IChO) 2023, with three Gold Medals and one Silver Medal; including two students in the top 10 highest scores. Photo: Ministry of Education and Training.

Comprehensive and encouraging results

Last year, along with the soft power index, Brand Finance also evaluated and ranked the country's strong brands. The "Vietnam 100" list lists the top 100 brands in Vietnam, demonstrating the growth of soft power in economic terms. Data from the report shows that, in general, the value of national brands tends to increase rapidly. In particular, with the application of digital transformation policies and service enhancement, banking brands in Vietnam have a general growth rate of 47%.

Vietnam continues to receive high trust when being elected as a member of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee for the 2023-2027 term. The national tourism industry also receives much support from prestigious international organizations such as: Michelin awards stars to Vietnamese restaurants; 10 Vietnamese dishes are recognized as "Asian specialties"; UNESCO recognizes Cat Ba archipelago as a World Natural Heritage... UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay said at the 24th Council Session: "Vietnam is a successful example of connecting economic and cultural development and is a good model of environmental conservation and sustainable tourism development".

Vietnam's diplomatic activities also had a prosperous year with many visits by key leaders to other countries, and welcoming important partners. The event of welcoming two senior leaders of the two superpowers, the United States and China, for official visits and signing, raising the level of cooperation relations was an important highlight in the process of strengthening Vietnam's strategic diplomacy in the past year, contributing practically to the stability, peace, cooperation, and development of the region and the world.

Suggestions for a national strategy

The above achievements in all aspects are clear evidence of Vietnam's significantly improved ranking on the global soft power map. Specifically, the two criteria of trust and reputation achieved the highest scores, 6.1 and 5.7 points, respectively. The national influence index also increased, although still at a modest level (3.8 compared to 3.5).

Brand Finance's report also showed that Vietnam's national brand value increased by 1.8% (equivalent to 1.8 points) from 498 million USD to 507 million USD. This growth put Vietnam in the group of 10 countries with the highest value in the Asian region, and ranked sixth out of 11 countries in the Southeast Asian region.

However, looking at the rankings, we can also see that some areas are still limited, or have not improved much, such as governance (2.8 points), communication (2.8 points), or education and science (2.7 points). In which, the education and science category is measured by specific criteria such as the country's contribution to technology, innovation, scientific achievements, and a sustainable education.

In the branding industry, experts have identified four key goals of national branding: attracting investment, enhancing trade, attracting human resources, and developing tourism. To successfully build and develop a national brand requires not only political determination, but also a strategy with specific focus, promoting strengths, overcoming weaknesses, which the soft power index rankings can provide valuable suggestions.

Deputy Minister Ha Kim Ngoc: Vietnam continues to promote "soft power"

Within the framework of the 42nd UNESCO session, Vietnam was elected to the position of Vice President representing the Asia-Pacific region.

Using modern media platforms to enhance soft power in Vietnam

On December 11, the Central Propaganda Department in collaboration with the Australian Embassy organized a workshop on “Enhancing soft power based on modern media”. The workshop aimed to discuss the trend of applying new media in promoting soft power and building national brands in the digital age.

According to Nhan Dan Newspaper

https://nhandan.vn/dinh-vi-viet-nam-tren-ban-do-suc-manh-mem-toan-cau-post806736.html

Source: https://thoidai.com.vn/dinh-vi-viet-nam-tren-ban-do-suc-manh-mem-toan-cau-199320.html