Adhering to 'golden' guidelines in diplomacy firmly

Proactiveness and adaptation are perhaps the most important action guidelines of all Vietnamese representative missions abroad in the context of the pandemic, to fulfill their tasks.
Italy - Điểm đến du học ngày càng được ưa chuộng của sinh viên Việt Nam
Ambassador of Viet Nam to Italy Nguyen Thi Bich Hue.

The proactiveness, readiness to deal with unpredictable problems and pioneering spirit are gained from the awareness of cross-cutting, prioritized missions, urgent tasks and even the new tasks in citizen protection, mobilisation for vaccines and medical equipment.

It is also an awareness of a deeply changing context in which the challenge is enormous. It is difficult to do many things in normal conditions, therefore, realizing them in the context of social distancing period and traffic disruption requires a lot of efforts of the representative missions itself and the related partners.

The proactiveness of the representative mission in the past time is reflected in the first priority to protect the safety of all staff in the embassy and their family members, which helps us to do things that have never been done. Italy was among the first countries affected by COVID-19.

Proactiveness is the ready attitude for scenarios and handling procedures in case a member of the embassy is infected with COVID-19; establishing procedures for flights to rescue citizens within 72 hours from the epidemic center in line with Viet Nam’s policy, isolation procedures when welcoming new officials to the embassy...

Besides, proactiveness is also finding sources of medical supplies to protect staff, supporting local citizens and friends, mobilizing a network of partners for vaccine diplomacy.

The pioneering and proactive spirit has become the guideline for us to continue to carry out diplomatic activities not only in Italy and concurrent countries, especially in Cyprus in which more than 6,000 Vietnamese people live, but also in international organizations in Rome.

Online diplomatic activities, Online New Year, virtual meetings with adoptive families, virtual cultural performances, projects of photo exhibition on virtual platform, food promotion... are the specific products which are realized from the pioneering and proactive spirit in the new context.

Đại sứ Nguyễn Thị Bích Huệ (giữa) tại gian hàng Việt Nam với trái cây nổi tiếng như bưởi, nhãn, bơ, dừa, xoài...
On September 7, Viet Nam for the first time participated in the Macfuit Fruit Exhibition held in Rimini City, Emilia Romagna, Italy. In the photo: Ambassador Nguyen Thi Bich Hue (centre) at Viet Nam's booth with famous fruits coming from Viet Nam such as grapefruit, longan, coconut, avocado, mango, etc.

Besides, I think that the pioneering role in diplomacy is also being ready to embrace opportunities, such as the EU-Viet Nam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA), the shift of investment flows, local policies to support businesses or the desire to have connections and contacts from adoptive families, etc.

In the context of the "new normal", our diplomats need to overcome objective and subjective barriers, persuade and mobilize partners to participate in many activities that have never been done. The first time we coordinated to organize a booth at the Macfuit Fruit Exhibition is an typical example. We had to persuade each province to overcome difficulties caused by the blockade domestically and the process of international transportation to send products and participate in the virtual B2B events.

In recent time, Viet Nam's representative missions around the world have demonstrated the initiative, creative and pioneering spirit, therefore, we have learned a lot from our colleagues.

Viet Nam and Italy officially established diplomatic relations on March 23, 1973. The two countries signed the "Joint Statement on the establishment of strategic partnership" on January 21, 2013.

Viet Nam is one of 10 emerging markets in the Italian Government's priority to develop trade and investment relations. Currently, Viet Nam is Italy's largest trading partner in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). In the first quarter of 2021, Viet Nam's export turnover to Italy reached 956.8 million USD, up 26.1% compared to the same quarter of 2020.

Currently, Italy is the 4th largest trading partner of Viet Nam in the European Union (EU).

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Nguyen Thi Bich Hue
Ambassador of Viet Nam to Italy