HÀ NỘI — Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc has asked newly-appointed Ambassadors and heads of Vietnamese representative offices abroad to work to deepen cooperative ties with foreign countries and territories.

At a reception on Saturday for the diplomats before they take up their duties abroad, the PM stressed that Việt Nam is in a very important stage of development that needs great resources. Other than internal strength, the Government leader said the country would need diplomats to do their best to secure external resources for national development, especially Official Development Assistance (ODA) and foreign direct investment (FDI), among others.

He asked the diplomats to closely follow the Party and State’s foreign policy of multilateralisation and diversification of external relations, active and proactive international integration, and being a reliable friend and partner as well as a responsible member of the international community.

The Government leader also said the diplomats should engage in strategic study and forecast work, and research new development models – especially from advanced countries – that can be applied in Việt Nam – to propose to the Government.

On behalf of the diplomats, newly-appointed Ambassador to Russia Đặng Minh Khôi vowed to make the greatest efforts to fulfil the tasks assigned to them by the Party and the State, stressing the priorities of maintaining a peaceful environment for national building efforts and the economy to thrive, while resisting tendencies of falling behind.

Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Lê Hoài Trung said that the foreign missions’ representatives appointed in 2020 had 31 people – including 22 ambassadors and six consul-generals – accounting for one third of the 94 chiefs of representative offices of Việt Nam overseas. — VNS