As an advisory body of the Party Central Committee in foreign affairs, the Commission for External Relations, under the leadership of the Politburo and the Secretariat, will seriously follow the guidelines and viewpoints of the Party, carry forward achievements and make greater efforts in realising the guidelines adopted at the 13th National Party Congress, he said.
Party diplomacy should be a pillar in putting forth master strategies for relations with neighbours and other countries, he said, adding that Party diplomacy and people-to-people diplomacy would promote mutual understanding and international support for national reform, construction and defence.
Speaking at the conference, Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son attributed the achievements recorded by the diplomatic sector to the absolute and comprehensive leadership of the Party, the centralised and unified management of the State, as well as the consensus between the Party, people and the army.
The sector has also accelerated the building and consolidation of relevant institutions, policies and laws, and stepped up modernination and digital transformation in the work, Son said.
The core task lies in personnel development, he said, stressing that diplomats must have a good background in politics, ideology, morality, knowledge and working style.
In her remarks, President of the Vietnam Union of Friendship Organisations (VUFO) Nguyen Phuong Nga said people-to-people diplomacy has reaped great achievements and made significant contributions in different periods of the Vietnamese revolution.
People-to-people diplomacy, together with Party diplomacy and State diplomacy, has boosted the normalisation of relations with major partners and mobilised the support of international friends for the settlement of war consequences and national reconstruction.
To enhance the role of people-to-people diplomacy, Nga suggested raising awareness in the entire political system about the significance of people-to-people diplomacy, strongly reforming operations across spheres, and completing mechanisms and policies to ensure financial and human resources for people-to-people diplomacy.
She proposed the Party Central Committee's Secretariat soon issue a new directive on people-to-people diplomacy to replace Directive No. 04 dated July 6, 2011 to match its new role and task./.
Q.Hoa t.h / VNA