Ho Chi Minh City hosts the 3rd Friendship Dialogue (FD 2026): City diplomacy – A driving force for innovation and sustainable development

The 3rd Ho Chi Minh City Friendship Dialogue 2026 adopts the theme: “City Diplomacy – A Driving Force for Innovation and Sustainable Development”.

According to the plan issued by the People's Committee of Ho Chi Minh City, FD 2026 aims to effectively implement foreign policy and international integration in the new context, executing the strategy to elevate the city's foreign affairs work by 2030, with a vision to 2045. One of the identified goals is to enhance diplomacy serving economic development, multilateral diplomacy, thereby contributing to the socio-economic development in the city's key areas.

The event is expected to gather approximately 500 - 700 delegates and guests, including leaders from international localities, international organizations, diplomatic agencies, business associations, trade and investment promotion organizations, experts, and foreign businesses.

Building on the achievements from the previous two Friendship Dialogues and leveraging FD's role as a strategic foreign affairs initiative, the event aims to strengthen cooperation between Ho Chi Minh City and international localities and partners; contributing to building trust, promoting dialogue, and enhancing the city's reputation and position on the international stage.

A notable aspect of FD 2026 is how the “host city” places city diplomacy in direct relation to development challenges. Instead of merely focusing on exchanges, building friendly relations, or expanding partner networks, this year's program emphasizes the ability to transform international relations into resources for growth, from attracting investment, technology, and high-quality human resources to promoting innovation, logistics, maritime economy, and digital transformation.

This is also why the Mayors' Conference, held on the morning of September 11, becomes the central content of FD 2026. The conference focuses on the role of localities in national foreign policy, multilateral networks, and city diplomacy. The main idea of the program is that in the context of increasingly deep international integration, cities not only implement foreign policy but also proactively participate in international networks to seek resources and address development issues.

Urban diplomacy is thus seen as a tool to help cities attract investment, technology, and high-quality human resources for growth. For Ho Chi Minh City, this approach is particularly significant as the city seeks new growth drivers.

The goal of the Mayors' Conference is not only to reaffirm the spirit of friendship, dialogue, and substantive cooperation with localities and international partners but also to promote cooperation in areas that directly impact the economy's competitiveness, such as the maritime economy, logistics, infrastructure connectivity, trade-investment, innovation, digital transformation, green growth, and sustainable development.

Notably, the program is designed to create a bridge between local authorities and the business sector and international organizations. The objective is to transform dialogue into specific initiatives, projects, and cooperative activities, while also strengthening strategic partner networks and laying the foundation for long-term cooperation programs between Ho Chi Minh City and foreign localities.

Two thematic discussion sessions on the afternoon of September 11 further highlight this orientation. The first session focuses on the role of local institutions in encouraging businesses to invest in research and development (R&D), while also transforming innovation results into commercial products. International experiences discussed include tax incentives, credit, co-investment, risk-sharing, and connecting research results with the market.

Here, city diplomacy is placed in a more substantive role: through twinning and friendly cooperation, cities can expand their ability to attract investment, technology transfer, and connect high-quality human resources. Thus, international partner networks not only hold diplomatic value but can also become a channel to supplement resources for innovation.

The second session focuses on green port cooperation, emphasizing the role of local authorities in connecting supply chains and meeting new generation sustainability standards. This issue is directly relevant to an economic center with a large port and logistics system like Ho Chi Minh City. The program also aims to enhance experience exchange, connect with localities and international partners to attract investment resources, technology transfer, and advanced management models for logistics.

Another noteworthy point is that the event will conclude on September 12 with a field survey program, allowing delegates to choose to work at Tan Cang - Cai Mep International Terminal (TCIT) or visit unique cultural and historical spaces such as Bach Dinh and Ba Ria - Vung Tau Museum.

From a policy perspective, FD 2026 can thus be seen as a test of how localities can leverage international networks to serve development goals. The challenge lies not in expanding the number of partners, but in the ability to transform meetings, exchanges, and commitments into cooperative programs with specific results.

This is particularly important as competition among cities increasingly involves not only the ability to attract capital but also access to technology, human resources, business networks, and international value chains. In this context, city diplomacy, if linked to specific development priorities, can become a channel to expand the economic space for the city.

Delegates take a group photo at the 2nd Ho Chi Minh City Friendship Dialogue in 2024. (Source: fd-hcmc.vn)

With innovations in content and implementation methods, professional, thoughtful, quality, and effective organization, the event affirms its international reputation and brand. By placing innovation and sustainable growth at the center, the 3rd Ho Chi Minh City Friendship Dialogue is moving towards an approach where city diplomacy not only expands relations but directly contributes to expanding the city's development resources.

Furthermore, the event is an opportunity to promote the image of a dynamic, creative, friendly, and integrated Ho Chi Minh City with a stable socio-political environment; an attractive destination with a favorable investment environment; contributing to realizing the goal of Ho Chi Minh City as a global urban model, ranked among the Top 100 most livable cities in the world.

According to the plan, tomorrow (September 4), the Department of Foreign Affairs of Ho Chi Minh City will host a press conference to widely inform about the 3rd Ho Chi Minh City Friendship Dialogue in 2026.

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