VUFO Delegation Visits Historical Site in Thai Nguyen
	Promoting the Strength of People-to-People Diplomacy in the New Context

After the success of the August Revolution, President Ho Chi Minh directed the establishment of the Vietnam-America Friendship Association and the Vietnam-China Friendship Association - the first people-to-people diplomatic organizations, which later became the precursors of today’s friendship organizations. Their mission was to promote relations with various social strata in the United States and China, contributing to strengthening and protecting the young revolutionary government and garnering international support and solidarity for our people’s just cause.

In 1950, the World Peace Council was officially established, and Vietnam was one of its founding members. On 19 November 1950, the Vietnam Committee for World Peace - Vietnam’s first multilateral people-to-people diplomatic organization and the precursor of the Viet Nam Union of Friendship Organizations (VUFO) - was founded in the Viet Bac war zone. Its aim was to link the Vietnamese people’s struggle with progressive movements worldwide. President Ho Chi Minh served as its Honorary President. Later, 19 November was recognized as VUFO’s traditional day.

In the years that followed, alongside other people-to-people forces such as trade unions, youth and women’s organizations, VUFO and its member organizations, with a network of hundreds of solidarity groups in Italy, Sweden, Denmark, the United Kingdom, the United States, Japan, and countries across Asia, Africa, and Latin America, actively disseminated information and mobilized friends and peoples across continents, especially in France and the United States, to oppose the unjust wars waged by French colonialists and American imperialists in Vietnam. The strong support of progressive peoples around the world was one of the important factors contributing to Vietnam’s complete victory in the long and arduous resistance wars.

After the war, VUFO cooperated with people’s organizations worldwide, particularly peace groups, left-wing organizations, and American veterans, to carry out humanitarian and cooperative activities supporting Vietnam in mine clearance, assistance for Agent Orange victims, cleft-lip and palate surgeries, construction of schools and health stations, and other initiatives that helped strengthen mutual understanding, heal wounds, overcome war consequences, rebuild the country, turn former adversaries into partners, and break the blockade and embargo.

General Secretary To Lam speaks at the Vietnam-China People’s Friendship Exchange. (Photo: VNA)

Thus, during the pre-Doi moi (Renewal) periods, the people-to-people diplomacy activities of VUFO and its member organizations strongly supported Party diplomacy and State diplomacy by helping build a global people’s front united in firmly supporting the just revolutionary cause of the Vietnamese people, striving for a Vietnam that is independent, unified, peaceful, and prosperous.

The Party’s viewpoint on people-to-people diplomacy has been consistently consolidated and developed throughout different periods of Vietnam’s revolution and national development. Continuing the previous stages, the 13th National Party Congress (2021) required: “expanding relations and promoting cooperation with political forces, social organizations and peoples of other countries, striving for peace, national independence, democracy, development cooperation, and social progress.” At the 13th Congress, the Party for the first time defined Party diplomacy, State diplomacy, and people-to-people diplomacy as the three fundamental pillars of a comprehensive and modern Vietnamese diplomacy.

Building on Directive No. 04/CT-TW dated 6 July 2011 of the Secretariat (11th tenure) on continuing to innovate and improve the effectiveness of people-to-people diplomacy in the new situation, the Secretariat (13th tenure) issued Directive No. 12-CT/TW on strengthening the Party’s leadership and enhancing the effectiveness of people-to-people diplomacy in the new situation (Directive 12). Accordingly, people-to-people diplomacy, together with party diplomacy and state diplomacy, plays a pioneering role in strengthening friendly relations and cooperation with the peoples of other countries; contributing to creating and maintaining a peaceful and stable environment; firmly safeguarding national independence and sovereignty, territorial integrity, and the socialist regime; protecting national interests; integrating national strength with the strength of the times; mobilizing external resources and strong international solidarity and support for national development, elevating the country’s prestige and position; and joining with progressive political and social forces and peoples around the world in striving for peace, national independence, democracy, development cooperation, and social progress.

Throughout the process of Doi moi, industrialization, modernization, and international integration, particularly under the guidance of the 13th National Party Congress’s Resolution on foreign affairs and the Secretariat’s Directives No. 04 and No. 12 on people-to-people diplomacy, VUFO has continuously strengthened its core role in people-to-people diplomacy in the fields of peace, solidarity, and friendship, making active contributions to fulfilling the tasks assigned to people-to-people diplomacy.

On 22 September 2025 in New York, President Luong Cuong met friends, partners, and progressive Americans on the occasion of attending the High-Level Week of the 80th Session of the United Nations General Assembly and working in the United States. (Photo: VNA)

In strategic research and advisory work, VUFO has fully and responsibly participated in the projects, research topics, and joint studies of the former Party Central Committee’s Commission for External Relations and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on people-to-people diplomacy (including the review and drafting of the Secretariat’s guiding documents on people-to-people diplomacy and foreign non-governmental affairs). VUFO has proactively contributed information and recommendations in plans and initiatives to develop partnerships with countries, and has participated in addressing complex and sensitive foreign affairs issues related to national interests in the realm of people-to-people diplomacy.

In terms of Party diplomacy, activities conducted by VUFO’s system from the central to local levels have actively supported the Party’s relations in many regions through friendship and cooperation activities with mass organizations, political foundations of ruling and participating parties, and other political parties in various countries. The friendship and cooperation maintained by VUFO and its member organizations, such as the Vietnam-China Friendship Association, the Vietnam-Laos Friendship Association, and the Vietnam-Cambodia Friendship Association, with their respective counterparts in the three neighboring countries sharing borders with Vietnam, are exemplary. They contribute to building a strong foundation of people-to-people relations, enhancing political trust between Vietnam and these countries, and passing on to younger generations the legacy of solidarity and friendship between Vietnam and the three nations.

With regard to the pillar of State diplomacy, VUFO, together with several other mass organizations, has actively contributed to the development and implementation of projects related to relations with countries and partners, ASEAN Chairmanship programs, high-level external affairs activities, and other major diplomatic initiatives. People-to-people diplomatic activities, such as Meetings with Friendship Intellectuals, Gatherings with Left-Wing Friends, and People-to-People Exchanges, organized by VUFO on the sidelines of high-level external affairs conducted by Party and State leaders, serve as vivid and substantive examples of strengthening the sustainability and depth of Vietnam’s relations with partner countries.

VUFO has also effectively participated in several government mechanisms related to people-to-people diplomacy, such as the Committee for Foreign Non-Governmental Affairs, the Steering Committee for External Information Service, and the Government’s Human Rights Steering Committee. Through these mechanisms, VUFO coordinates in mobilizing external resources for national development, safeguarding national interests, and addressing complex and sensitive issues concerning democracy, human rights, ethnicity, religion, and maritime sovereignty.

The quantity and quality of bilateral and multilateral partnerships within VUFO’s system have significantly increased over time. The innovation in VUFO’s people-to-people bilateral and multilateral relations is reflected in its proactive approach to leveraging partnerships, actively identifying overlapping and intertwined interests among partners, and implementing optimal cooperative measures that serve Vietnam’s practical interests. The people-to-people relations cultivated by VUFO with other countries over time have contributed to establishing a broad foundation of international people-to-people connections, strengthening the pillar of people-to-people diplomacy, and coordinating seamlessly and synchronously with party diplomacy and state diplomacy to create a favorable environment for Vietnam’s relations with other countries.

Member of the Politburo, Secretary of the Party Central Committee and President of the Central Committee of the Vietnam Fatherland Front Do Van Chien (front row, sixth from the right), meets with and expresses gratitude to international friends. (Photo: Dinh Hoa)

The remarkable achievements of Doi moi and international integration have created new momentum and strength for the country, elevating Vietnam’s international role, position, and prestige. In the future, diplomacy will play a constructive role, opening new opportunities for national development and enhancing Vietnam’s status and reputation in global politics, the world economy, and human civilization. Integrating diplomacy closely with national development, connecting foreign affairs with politics, economics, culture, defense, security, science, technology, and digital transformation is an urgent requirement. With this new strength, Vietnam actively participates in contributing to the maintenance of peace and stability in the region and globally.

The major orientation of people-to-people diplomacy is to work alongside the two pillars of party diplomacy and state diplomacy to play a “strategic and continuous” role, forming a tripod foundation for comprehensive, modern diplomacy aimed at creating peace, expanding development space, and elevating the country’s position in the new era.

Accordingly, VUFO’s people-to-people diplomacy should actively help the world understand Vietnam’s development aspirations, as well as the domestic and foreign policies of the Party and State; proactively participate in creating new opportunities for cooperation that contribute to the nation’s construction and development in line with the 100-year goals set by the Party. At the same time, in this new phase of development, VUFO needs to innovate its approach to people-to-people diplomacy, shifting toward leadership thinking, full integration, readiness to assume new responsibilities, and leveraging the nation’s “soft power” in proportion to its historical, cultural, political, and economic stature. By projecting an image of an independent, self-reliant, peace-loving, cooperative, and friendly Vietnam, VUFO can enhance contributions to the progressive movement of peoples in the region and globally for peace, democracy, development, and solving common human challenges. Through these efforts, together with other people-to-people diplomacy forces, VUFO will consolidate the pillar of people-to-people diplomacy, contribute to national development, and further elevate Vietnam’s standing on the international stage.

Sincere, Flexible, and Creative: Identity of Vietnam’s People-to-People Exchanges with Neighboring Countries These are among the reflections drawn from personal experience shared by Tran Thi Xuan Oanh, Director General of the Asia-Africa Department under the Viet Nam ...

[Infographics] History of Formation and Development of Viet Nam Union of Friendship Organizations History of Formation and Development of Viet Nam Union of Friendship Organizations.