Minister of Foreign Affairs Lê Hoài Trung at the year-end meeting with the press on December 31. — VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI — Việt Nam's foreign policy has continued to deliver tangible gains in safeguarding peace, supporting development and enhancing the country’s international standing, despite an increasingly complex global environment, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lê Hoài Trung said on Wednesday.

Speaking at a year-end meeting with Vietnamese media in Hà Nội, the country's top diplomat said that while international and regional dynamics remained volatile and strategic competition had intensified, peace, cooperation and development were still the prevailing trends. Against that backdrop, Việt Nam's diplomacy had stayed firmly aligned with the Party’s external line and produced “important, substantive outcomes”.

Reviewing the past year, Minister Trung said Việt Nam's foreign policy had been implemented in a comprehensive and coordinated manner across its three pillars: Party diplomacy, state diplomacy and people-to-people diplomacy. Together, these efforts had helped preserve a stable external environment, served national development goals and steadily elevated Việt Nam's reputation and credibility on the global stage.

He stressed that diplomatic achievements were not confined to high-level engagements alone but were also reflected in the growing effectiveness of institutional reforms within the foreign service, which had strengthened policy advisory capacity and inter-agency coordination in response to new challenges.

Looking ahead, the foreign minister said as Việt Nam is entering the 'era of nation's rise' – marked by ambitious development targets – which requires higher growth and deeper international integration at a more advanced level.

In that context, he underscored the “pioneering” and “core” role of diplomacy in shaping and safeguarding a peaceful and stable environment, while helping to mobilise synergistic national strength for the country’s next phase of development. For the first time, external relations and international integration have been defined in the Party’s strategic documents as a “key and regular task”, alongside national defence and security – a move he said both elevated diplomacy’s status and placed higher demands on its performance.

Minister Trung also highlighted the role of external information and communication, noting that effective outreach had become an increasingly important component of foreign policy implementation. He lauded Vietnamese media organisations in proactively conveying the Party’s foreign policy line, providing timely analysis of international developments and countering misinformation.

He expressed appreciation for the close cooperation between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the press, saying the contribution of journalists and external communication agencies had been an integral part of Việt Nam's overall diplomatic success.

Representing the media, Lê Quốc Minh, editor-in-chief of Nhân Dân (People) newspaper and chairman of the Việt Nam Journalists Association, welcomed Việt Nam's diplomatic achievements and thanked the foreign ministry for its consistent support. He said coordination between the ministry and media outlets had become a benchmark for effectiveness and professionalism, pledging continued partnership to meet rising demands in external communication in the coming period.

At the event, the foreign minister presented commendations and commemorative medals to 37 organisations and individuals for outstanding contributions to external information and communication over the past year, recognising their role in advancing Việt Nam's foreign policy objectives. — VNS