Deputy Foreign Minister Le Thi Thu Hang said cultural diplomacy and foreign information, together with the pillars of political and economic diplomacy, and protection of overseas Vietnamese citizens, are extremely important tasks assigned to not only MOFA, but also other ministries and localities. 

Cultural diplomacy and foreign information play an even more important role in the new circumstances, with many changes, especially in the development of mass media, and the competition in ‘soft power’ among countries.

Since 2021, MOFA has conducted many activities in cultural diplomacy and implemented foreign information campaigns, thus contributing to the images of a dynamic and growing Vietnam.

“We have succeeded in showing Vietnam's practical contribution to multilateral forums to solve global problems, helping to enhance Vietnam's position in the international arena,” Hang said.

The 60 titles granted by UNESCO to Vietnam, 10 of which have been recognized for two consecutive years, has helped build the national brand and protect the cultural values of the nation.

Deputy Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Thanh Lam emphasized the need to promote public resources, especially individual accounts and media channels with a high number of followers.

To take full advantage of the social resources for foreign information, Lam suggested using KOLs (key opinion leaders) and KOC (key opinion consumers) for public diplomacy. On social media, there are about 20,000 individual accounts and communications channels with 10,000 or more followers who are KOLs and KOCs.

He said that the use of KOLs and KOCs, together with other measures, will enhance foreign communications.

He shared experiences in building the national foreign information portal with the domain name of ‘vietnam.vn’. The portal connects the e-information portals of 63 cities. Provinces and some KOLs’ channels have helped popularize Vietnam’s images. 

Le Quang Minh, general director of the National Assembly TV channel, noted that when he searched on Google, he did not find much information about Vietnam’s foreign relation events in English from domestic press agencies, and most of the information was from foreign media.

He stressed the need to improve the foundations for foreign communications, creating favorable conditions for the public to easily access information.

Van Anh