Hanoi (VNA) – People-to-people diplomacywill focus on activities in service of national socio-economic development in2023, President of the Vietnam Union of Friendship Organisations (VUFO)Ambassador Nguyen Phuong Nga has said.

The Party and the State consider 2023 animportant year to implement the 2021-2025 socio-economic development plan and theresolution adopted at the 13th National Party Congress, Nga noted ina recent interview granted to the press.

She emphasised people-to-people diplomacy’s missionand pioneer role in creating and maintaining a peaceful and stable environment,mobilising external resources for national development, and raising the country’sposition and reputation in the international arena.

Priorities will be given to promoting relations ofpeople-to-people diplomacy and making it more intensive, extensive, substantiveand effective, according to the ambassador.

2023 also sees various celebrations of diplomaticties with foreign countries, which will be an opportunity for Vietnam totighten its friendship with peoples worldwide and step up cooperation, thusmobilising resources for national socio-economic recovery and development postCOVID-19, she said.

Reviewing achievements in people-to-people diplomacyin 2022, Nga said the sector has fulfilled most of its major tasks, focusing onrelations with neighbouring countries, important partners and traditionalfriends.

VUFO directly joined and chaired manyactivities, both bilaterally and multilaterally, notably those within theframework of the Vietnam-Laos, Laos-Vietnam Solidarity and Friendship Year andthe Vietnam-Cambodia Friendship Year, helping consolidate and enhance relationswith the two neighbours, she continued.

Multilaterally, Vietnam successfully hosted the22nd Assembly of the World Peace Council for the first time,reflecting the country’s active and responsible contributions to the counciland global peace movements at large, the ambassador said.

Nga also spoke of celebrations of diplomatic ties withother countries like India, Austria and the Republic of Korea (RoK).

A highlight of people-to-people diplomacy in theyear was the connectivity between centrally-run agencies and localities, Ngasaid, explaining that friendship, peace and solidarity activities were organisedat both central and local levels.

With the issuance of the Government’s Decree58/2022/ND-CP on the registration and management of activities of foreignnon-governmental organisations (NGOs) in the year, VUFO worked hard to informthe organisations of Vietnam’s relevant guidelines, policies and legalframework in a timely manner, thus facilitating their operations in thecountry.

Thanks to such efforts, donations from foreign NGOs to Vietnam still exceeded 200 million USD in 2022 despite the externalresource scarcity, she said.

Asked about lessons drawn in 2022, Nga saidpeople-to-people diplomacy must be carried out harmoniously for the interest of the country and humankind as well, and for progress, equality andsustainable development.

She also stressed the need to closely combinepeople-to-people diplomacy with other pillars of external relations - Partydiplomacy and State diplomacy, and pay more attention to personnel training./.