“From being isolated politically and economically, Vietnam has made every effort to expand its external relations toward diversification and multilateralisation,” said Mr Nien at a press conference in Hanoi on Friday on the sidelines of the current 10^th National Party Congress.

So far, the country has established diplomatic ties with 169 countries and trade ties with 244 countries and territories around the world.

One of the major tasks of the diplomatic sector is to promote the image of the Vietnamese nation to the wider world. The cultural event “Vietnamese Days” has been organised in many countries in the world including France, Japan, Canada, Russia and Germany, and has made good impressions on audiences.

However, Mr Nien said that the promotion of the Vietnamese image has not received much attention in recent times and the work should be done regularly so that international friends can better understand the country’s history, land and culture.

“The diplomatic sector will co-ordinate closely with the tourism sector to carry out the task,” affirmed the Foreign Minister.

Regarding Vietnam’s entry to the World Trade Organisation, Mr Nien said that the country has “no adjustments to its diplomatic policy”, as the process testifies to the country’s external policy of diversifying and multilateralising relations. But technically, Vietnam will adjust its legal system to be in conformity with international norms.

Mr Nien spoke highly of the potential value and contributions to the homeland by the overseas Vietnamese community, which comprises more than three million abroad. Their economic power is small, but their brainpower is substantial, noted Mr Nien.

“The most important thing is to encourage overseas Vietnamese scientists and intellectuals to return and work in the country,” said Mr Nien. “The State should have proper policies and build modern infrastructure facilities to attract them. To do this, domestic and overseas Vietnamese scientists should have closer co-ordination. The National Committee for Overseas Vietnamese Affairs will co-ordinate with the Ministry of Science and Technology and the Ministry of Education and Training to organise seminars for overseas Vietnamese intellectuals and their domestic partners to draw up co-operation programmes.’

Answering a question raised by South China Morning Post newspaper on relations between Vietnam and China, and Vietnam and the United States, Mr Nien said relations between Vietnam and China have been developing well under the motto "friendly neighbourliness, comprehensive co-operation, long-lasting stability and looking forwards to the future" and in the spirit of "good neighbours, good friends, good comrades and good partners". The two countries will implement many co-operative projects in the coming time, Mr Nien said, adding that number of Chinese visitors to Vietnam and Vietnamese visitors to China is increasing year on year.

The Foreign Minister also said that relations between Vietnam and the US have been also progressing well in the past 10 years, particularly marked by the Vietnam visit in 2000 by former US President Bill Clinton and the US visit last year by Prime Minister Phan Van Khai. The US is one of Vietnam’s leading trade partners, with two-way trade increasing significantly in recent years.

Mr Nien added that both Vietnam and the US are looking forward to the upcoming visit to Vietnam by US President George W. Bush while he attends the 14^th Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) summit in Hanoi in November this year.