Delegates and guests perform the "Holding Hands" ceremony to open the Vietnam-Japan Festival in Ho Chi Minh City in 2025. (Photo: Xuan Khu/VNA)
The country is in a vibrant and joyful period with activities to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the August Revolution and National Day (September 2, 1945 - September 2, 2025). 80 years after President Ho Chi Minh read the Declaration of Independence at the historic Ba Dinh Square, Vietnam has been steadily entering an era of deep international integration.
On this occasion, Vietnam News Agency reporters had a conversation with former Party Central Committee member and former Foreign Minister Nguyen Dy Nien - who directly participated in many important diplomatic events of the country, to look back at the great achievements that the country has achieved over the past 8 decades, especially 40 years of renovation, including the important contributions of the Vietnamese diplomatic sector.
Remove bottlenecks
“I have lived through many stages of the revolution, from the resistance war against French colonialism, to the resistance war against the US, to save the country, and then to the current period of renovation. Witnessing the development of the country, I feel extremely excited, especially in the current period.
"In terms of diplomacy, I feel very happy and secure because Vietnam's position in the international arena is now so good, so wonderful. In our time, due to conditions not allowing it, this was just a dream" - former Foreign Minister Nguyen Dy Nien, who is 90 years old this year and has 52 consecutive years of service in the diplomatic sector, shared.
According to Mr. Nguyen Dy Nien, the journey of the past 8 decades, especially the 40 years of national renovation, is a journey of changing the Party's leadership and management thinking, promptly removing bottlenecks for the country to develop, in which the 6th National Party Congress in 1986 is considered a historical milestone that set out the path of national renovation, including the Diplomatic sector.
“The Party’s innovation policy has helped the diplomatic sector untie many bottlenecks that we have not been able to do before, such as relations with Western countries and countries in other regions, thereby contributing to promoting other areas from politics to economics, security, defense, and culture,” Mr. Nguyen Dy Nien emphasized.
Pointing out the outstanding marks of the Diplomatic sector in 40 years of national renovation, former Foreign Minister Nguyen Dy Nien said that Vietnamese Diplomacy has made extremely positive and important contributions to the country's development.
Former Foreign Minister Nguyen Dy Nien. (Photo: Viet Duc/VNA)
“The diplomatic sector has made efforts to contribute to breaking the embargo. Vietnamese diplomacy has joined with friends and progressive forces in the world to handle and resolve issues in relations with neighboring countries. We normalized relations with China (in 1991), with the United States (in 1995), joined ASEAN (1995), joined ASEM (Asia-Europe Meeting) in 1996, APEC (November 1998), and in terms of economic diplomacy, we have signed many bilateral and multilateral economic agreements with other countries,” said Mr. Nguyen Dy Nien.
Cultural diplomacy and Vietnam's soft power
As Minister of Foreign Affairs for 7 years (from February 2000 to June 2006), one of the marks of the Diplomatic sector that many people mention when talking about former Minister Nguyen Dy Nien is cultural diplomacy, especially activities honoring President Ho Chi Minh abroad and spreading Ho Chi Minh's diplomatic ideology.
Sharing with reporters, former Minister Nguyen Dy Nien expressed his passion and excitement when mentioning cultural diplomacy activities.
Before becoming Minister, he was Chairman of the Vietnam National Commission for UNESCO for 13 years, where he directly participated and witnessed the historic event 35 years ago, in 1987, UNESCO issued a Resolution honoring "Ho Chi Minh as Hero of National Liberation, Outstanding Cultural Figure of Vietnam".
“In 1987, I attended the 24th UNESCO General Assembly in Paris (France) and I, along with Ms. Phan Thi Phuc, Secretary General of the UNESCO National Commission, along with the Deputy Minister of Culture, poet Huy Can, and several other Ambassadors, participated in the campaign for UNESCO to vote to honor President Ho Chi Minh.
And it must be remembered that in 1987, Vietnam had only established diplomatic relations with over 50 countries. Most of the countries that did not have diplomatic relations with Vietnam were fiercely anti-Vietnam.
Yet the UNESCO General Assembly voted and achieved an almost absolute majority of votes in favor of honoring Uncle Ho. Here, we see that this is not due to our efforts but because of Uncle Ho's great prestige in the international arena," Mr. Nguyen Dy Nien recalled and said that the world's honoring of President Ho Chi Minh is a testament to the soft power, reputation and prestige of the leader and the country of Vietnam, a heroic nation.
With a passion for cultural diplomacy, including admiration for Ho Chi Minh's diplomatic ideology, when he was Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Nguyen Dy Nien made an important contribution to summarizing President Ho Chi Minh's ideology on diplomacy and building it into a fairly complete system of "Ho Chi Minh's diplomatic ideology"; at the same time, effectively applying "Ho Chi Minh's diplomatic ideology" to foreign affairs activities, contributing to raising the country's international position, while promoting and elevating Vietnam's cultural diplomacy.
Believe in the new era of development of the country
Expressing his agreement with the major decisions of the Party and State on national development in the new era, former Minister Nguyen Dy Nien said that the revolution of streamlining the administrative apparatus and organizing a two-level local government model initiated by our Party headed by General Secretary To Lam, which is being resolutely implemented, is of great significance, helping to transform the state from a developing country to a developed country by 2045.
On July 3, 2025, at Hanoi University of Industry (Hanoi), a cultural and tourism exchange program of Hebei Province (China) with the theme "Yen Trieu Silk Melody - Vietnam-China Harmony" was held within the framework of the Vietnam-China Humanitarian Exchange Year 2025, towards the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries. (Photo: Ngoc Bich/VNA)
To successfully carry out this revolution, Mr. Nguyen Dy Nien believes that the first thing is to change the ideology and thinking, as the Party did 40 years ago: “This is still the most important issue. We must look at the world and look at ourselves,” Mr. Nguyen Dy Nien emphasized.
Agreeing with the viewpoint that the Party and State leaders have repeatedly emphasized that “if you want to go fast, go alone, if you want to go far, go together,” former Minister Nguyen Dy Nien said that in the context of deep integration, Vietnam needs to go with humanity, with the world, with other countries. In addition, the former Foreign Minister also noted the issue of preserving national identity and said that no matter how deep the integration is, it must “preserve its own identity.”
In the new era of development, former Minister Nguyen Dy Nien said that there is a need for solutions to enhance Vietnamese intelligence and gather talents. "The intelligence of Vietnamese people must be further multiplied. The elite must be formed and gathered, respected, and given opportunities to work and contribute to the country," Mr. Nguyen Dy Nien shared and highly appreciated the resolutions and conclusions that the Party has issued in recent times, including 4 Resolutions considered as the "Quad Pillars" that have had a great impact on the country's socio-economic development.
From the initial difficulties of the Doi Moi process to the current position, along with expectations and challenges for the future, former Minister Nguyen Dy Nien expressed his deep belief in the path the country is taking and the aspiration for a Vietnam "standing shoulder to shoulder with the world powers" as Uncle Ho wished./.
Source: https://www.vietnamplus.vn/nguyen-bo-truong-nguyen-dy-nien-tu-hao-vi-the-viet-nam-tren-truong-quoc-te-post1056269.vnp
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