VUFO President Ambassador Nguyen Phuong Nga (Photo: VNA) In an interview granted to the Vietnam News Agency(VNA) ahead of the National Conference on External Affairs, slated for December 14in Hanoi, Nga pointed out the challenges to people-to-people diplomacy, including complexdevelopments of the world situation and the COVID-19 pandemic.
She said the 13th National Party Congress hasidentified people-to-people diplomacy as one of the three pillars of externalrelations, together with Party diplomacy and State diplomacy.
Highlighting Vietnam’s friendship with foreign countries,friends and partners, which has been consolidated over the past decades, the VUFO President said Vietnam is working hard to expand the network of friends andmobilise international resources to serve national construction and development.
During the interview, Nga also reviewed achievementsrecorded in people-to-people diplomacy across spheres, saying despite thepandemic, Vietnam’s connection with international friends has not beendisrupted thanks to the utilisation of internet and social platforms.
She said VUFO has so far raised more than 47billion VND (2.04 million USD) in support of the COVID-19 combat. Meanwhile, 57non-governmental organisations have donated over 10.6 million USD to help Vietnamese fight the pandemic.
The Vietnam-Laos, Vietnam-Cambodia and Vietnam-India Friendship Associations, among others, have also mobilised resources to aid foreign friendsaffected by the pandemic, Nga added.
She emphasised contributions of the associations tothe country’s socio-economic development through the organisation of seminars overthe past time.
Right after the pandemic was brought under control,people-to-people diplomacy activities have been integrated into overseas tripsby high-ranking leaders, according to the VUFO President.
Apart from bilateral activities, people-to-peoplediplomacy has also played a part in affirming Vietnam’s role and position atpeople’s forums like the ASEAN People’s Forum and the Asia-Europe People’sForum.
In the foreign non-governmental work, Nga saidforeign non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have pledged 260 million USD in aid for Vietnam this year.
The upcoming conference willset out specific orientations, directions and strategies for agencies,ministries and branches in this field.
It will also seek measures to promote theeffectiveness of coordination between agencies and localities, and betweenParty diplomacy, State diplomacy and people-to-people diplomacy./.
VNA
