Foreign information contributes to creating domestic consensus, affirming Vietnam's prestige and position.

Conclusion 57-KL/TW issued by the Politburo demonstrated the high attention of the Party and State leaders to foreign information work, in accordance with the practical situation and serving the country's development goals.

Deputy Foreign Minister Le Thi Thu Hang, member of the Steering Committee for External Information Affairs, gave an interview to The Gioi & Viet Nam Newspaper ahead of the upcoming National Conference on Research and Implementation of Conclusion 57-KL/TW of the Politburo in Hanoi.

The Steering Committee for External Information Affairs held a conference to review activities in the first six months of 2023 and deploy tasks for the last six months of 2023. (Source: VNA)

Vietnam is increasingly affirming its international position, and its contributions are recognized and highly appreciated by the international community. These successes have important contributions from the foreign information front. How does the Deputy Minister evaluate the outstanding results in the implementation of this important work in the first half of the 13th National Party Congress term?

In recent times, especially since the 13th National Party Congress, the foreign affairs work of our Party and State has been carried out synchronously and comprehensively and achieved positive results, contributing significantly to the cause of development and international integration as well as protecting the integrity of territorial sovereignty, especially enhancing the country's international position.

To date, Vietnam has established diplomatic relations with 193 countries around the world, the latest of which was in September when it established diplomatic relations with Tonga. We have established a framework of strategic partnership and comprehensive strategic partnership with 18 countries, including all permanent members of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC).

Vietnam successfully assumed the role of non-permanent member of the UN Security Council for the 2020-2021 term and Vice President of the 77th UN General Assembly, and was elected as a member of the UN Human Rights Council for the 2023-2025 term...

Development diplomacy focuses on serving people, localities and businesses, successfully completing the vaccine diplomacy campaign so that the country can soon open up, recover and achieve spectacular growth of more than 8% in 2022 and import-export turnover reaches a record of 735 billion USD. These successes are recognized by the people in the country and highly appreciated by the international community.

To achieve the above foreign affairs achievements, first of all, there is the attention, close direction and direct participation of senior leaders, close, timely and synchronous coordination between central and local departments, ministries and branches, especially the contribution of propaganda, positive dissemination, creating resonance in public opinion of foreign affairs information work.

In terms of content, the foreign information work has successfully completed the task of propagating and promoting the guidelines, policies, viewpoints, stances, all-round situation, potentials and strengths of Vietnam to the international community, especially in the post-Covid-19 pandemic period, gradually opening up; on the other hand, it has widely and promptly informed the people in the country about the foreign affairs efforts and achievements of our Party and State.

At the same time, foreign information work actively fights and effectively refutes false and objective information about the political, economic and social situation, great solidarity, and human rights protection work in Vietnam, as well as unjust information, arguments, and claims that violate the country's sovereignty over seas and islands and territorial integrity.

In terms of methods, foreign information work is constantly innovated, actively monitoring international public opinion, researching media trends, gradually transforming digitally, developing social network ecosystems, organizing online information forms, digitizing administrative procedures related to foreign information, to promptly adjust the content and methods of propaganda, bringing information and images about Vietnam to a wider range of people in the country and the international community with a new "look" that is more suitable, more attractive, more suitable to taste, ensuring that information of the Party and State is the "mainstream" on the public opinion front.

Regarding the force, the quality of the force working in foreign information is constantly improved, focusing on training. Training courses, updating information and skills for cadres working in foreign information at the central and local levels are organized regularly and continuously innovated.

The content is not only about basic, general information and skills, but also goes into more specific issues, approaching international trends such as measures to respond to media crises, building local brands, promoting images... The coordination between departments, ministries, branches and localities in foreign information work has become more rhythmic, awareness of foreign information is getting better and better, communication effectiveness is stronger...

In addition, cooperation with foreign reporters has also made many important strides. Vietnamese representative agencies abroad have been more proactive and active in contacting scholars and reporters, thereby building a network of foreign reporters who are sympathetic to Vietnam and overseas Vietnamese reporters who are oriented towards their homeland and country.

Domestically, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs always creates the most favorable working conditions, or proactively organizes many delegations of foreign reporters/press attachés to visit localities, especially in the context of the Covid epidemic when there are no reporters from outside entering Vietnam. These are all very valuable resources, effectively supporting Vietnam in bringing all aspects of information to the international community.

To continue improving the quality and effectiveness of foreign information work, the Politburo issued Conclusion No. 57-KL/TW on continuing to improve the quality and effectiveness of foreign information work in the new situation. Could you please tell us about the significance and participation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the development of this important Conclusion?

It can be said that the world and regional situation in recent times has been particularly complicated and difficult, experiencing major fluctuations, with unexpected issues such as competition between major powers, the Covid-19 pandemic, global economic recession, etc.

The domestic and international media environment has undergone many changes with the emergence of new media, social media and recently the application of artificial intelligence (AI) in the media field. Competition between major powers has also turned information and propaganda into a front. Information wars have appeared in some places and at some specific events. The domestic political, economic and social situation has also changed a lot compared to previous years.

That context soon raised the need to amend and supplement Conclusion No. 16-KL/TW dated February 14, 2012 of the 11th Politburo on the Strategy for External Information Development for the 2011-2020 period in order to inherit the achieved results, overcome the remaining weaknesses and difficulties, constantly innovate, quickly absorb and apply scientific and technological advances, thereby better performing the tasks assigned by the Party and the State, consolidating the trust of the people in the country, gaining the consensus and support of the international community in issues related to national and ethnic interests, protecting the Party's ideological foundation, and fighting against false and hostile arguments.

It can be said that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has actively and proactively participated in the process of building the Conclusion through summarizing the practical implementation of foreign information work or studying the experiences of other countries in public diplomacy, image building, etc. Through mechanisms such as regular conferences of the Steering Committee for Foreign Information Work, meetings of the working group assisting the Steering Committee for Foreign Information Work, periodic reports on the implementation of foreign information work as well as written comments during the process of building the drafts of Conclusion No. 57-KL/TW, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has actively exchanged, consulted, and proposed many ideas to further improve the effectiveness of foreign information work in general and the operating mechanism of the Steering Committee for Foreign Information Work in particular, in many areas such as policies, content, methods and resources.

The contributions of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs have been recognized and reflected in Conclusion No. 57-KL/TW issued by the Politburo.

Conclusion No. 57-KL/TW dated June 15, 2023 of the Politburo on continuing to improve the quality and effectiveness of foreign information work in the new situation is not a document replacing Conclusion No. 16-KL/TW dated February 14, 2012 of the Politburo, but is a completion and addition of new viewpoints and goals, stating new tasks and solutions to more effectively carry out foreign information work in the context of many fluctuations in the regional and international situation.

Deputy Foreign Minister Le Thi Thu Hang met with ambassadors, heads of representative agencies, and cultural and press attachés of countries in Vietnam on the occasion of the New Year 2023. (Source: VNA)

Could you please tell us about the priorities and focuses in implementing Conclusion No. 57 of the Politburo in the coming time?

Thoroughly implementing the viewpoint of Conclusion No. 57-KL/TW of the Politburo, considering foreign information work as an important part of foreign affairs work, closely linking foreign information and domestic information, harmoniously combining "building" and "fighting", constantly innovating according to the motto "proactive, synchronous, timely, creative, effective", in the coming time, the foreign information work of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will be deployed according to a number of key points as follows:

Firstly, it is necessary to thoroughly grasp and proactively implement Conclusion No. 57-KL/TW of the Politburo to each unit of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and each Vietnamese representative agency abroad, raise awareness among diplomatic staff about the importance of foreign information work, consider foreign information as a part of diplomatic work, always proactively and actively implement and coordinate the implementation of foreign information work.

Second, research, explore, create and innovate in terms of content, methods and forms of implementing foreign information work, focusing on digital transformation and application of information technology in foreign information work; have impressive and convincing communication stories with the goal of bringing positive information and images about Vietnam to more and more audiences in more countries and regions around the world.

Third, promote the role of Vietnamese representative agencies abroad as the frontline force in foreign information work, focusing on effectively implementing the Project "Improving the effectiveness of foreign information work of Vietnamese representative agencies abroad by 2030". Actively promote propaganda among the overseas Vietnamese community to create consensus among Vietnamese public opinion both at home and abroad.

Fourth, strengthen cooperation with international reporters, experts, scholars as well as overseas Vietnamese; build a press force abroad that is friendly to Vietnam, and can effectively support foreign information work as well as public opinion struggles when necessary.

Fifth, promote exchanges and cooperation in the field of foreign information with other countries, share experiences in implementing public diplomacy and digital diplomacy activities, take advantage of social media and new-generation media forms to promptly grasp new trends in communications in general and foreign information in particular, contributing to building a comprehensive and modern diplomacy.

Conclusion 57-KL/TW issued by the Politburo demonstrates the high attention of Party and State leaders to foreign information work, in line with the practical situation and serving the country's development goals.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Vietnamese representative agencies abroad, of which The Gioi & Viet Nam Newspaper is also one of the key units, will certainly seriously study and thoroughly grasp to successfully complete the assigned tasks, contributing to creating consensus among the people in the country and affirming the prestige and position of Vietnam in the international community.

Source: https://baoquocte.vn/thong-tin-doi-ngoai-gop-phan-tao-su-dong-thuan-trong-nuoc-khang-dinh-uy-tin-vi-the-viet-nam-244875.html