AMBASSADOR NGUYEN DUC HUNG SPEAKS ON INNOVATING AND ELEVATING ASEAN PEOPLE-TO-PEOPLE DIPLOMACY IN THE NEW ERA:
“Strengthening People-to-People Connectivity – Fostering Friendship – Working Together to Build a United, Resilient and Sustainable ASEAN Community”
1. At a time of profound and complex changes in the global and regional landscape, marked by both emerging opportunities and interconnected challenges, strengthening solidarity, building trust and promoting cooperation among ASEAN Member States have become increasingly important to the future of the ASEAN Community. In this process, people-to-people diplomacy is not merely a complementary channel to Party-to-Party diplomacy and State diplomacy; it is also an important driving force in building a solid societal foundation, fostering closer bonds among peoples and contributing to ASEAN’s long-term cohesion and development.
For Vietnam, ASEAN has become a key pillar of its foreign policy. Alongside political-security and economic cooperation, people-to-people exchanges and connectivity are increasingly recognized as a sustainable foundation for building trust, enhancing mutual understanding and fostering social consensus among Member States. Nevertheless, a realistic assessment suggests that people-to-people diplomacy among ASEAN countries in general, and between Vietnam and other ASEAN Member States in particular, has yet to reach its full potential or capitalize adequately on the considerable strengths and opportunities for cooperation available. Many activities remain fragmented and disconnected, while regular, substantive and far-reaching mechanisms of cooperation that can generate meaningful impact across communities have yet to take shape.
This reality underscores the need to renew our thinking, approaches and substantive agenda for ASEAN people-to-people diplomacy, making it more proactive, professional, substantive and effective, in line with the country’s development requirements in the new era. This effort also represents a concrete implementation of Directive No. 12-CT/TW of the Party Central Committee’s Secretariat on strengthening the Party’s leadership and enhancing the effectiveness of people-to-people diplomacy in the new situation. At the same time, it seeks to translate the foreign policy orientations of the Party’s 14th National Congress into effective action, in accordance with Resolution No. 06-NQ/TW of the Politburo.
2. Against this backdrop, the proposed conference, “Innovating and Elevating ASEAN People-to-People Diplomacy in a New Era,” aims to establish an open and flexible platform for dialogue and multi-layered connectivity among friendship organizations, citizens, businesses, intellectuals, artists and other societal stakeholders from Vietnam and their counterparts across ASEAN. The conference seeks to bring about a decisive shift away from isolated friendship exchanges towards more substantive, sustained and interconnected initiatives that deliver tangible benefits to all parties.
In the longer term, the conference is expected to help deepen Vietnam–ASEAN relations on a people-centered foundation; provide effective support to official diplomatic channels; and make practical contributions to peace, stability, solidarity and sustainable development within the ASEAN Community. It also offers an opportunity to develop a new model and a distinctive Vietnamese brand of people-to-people diplomacy in the ASEAN space—one capable of building broad-based connections, promoting the values of friendship and advancing substantive cooperation. Ultimately, the ambition is to move ASEAN people-to-people diplomacy: from fostering friendship to creating shared values through cooperation; from individual initiatives to an interconnected regional network; and from traditional exchanges to digital connectivity and substantive collaboration in the new era.
3. A major highlight and one of the conference’s concrete outcomes will be the establishment and official launch of the digital platform, the “ASEAN Friendship Bridge” Website. The platform is envisioned as a dynamic, multidimensional and long-term space for connectivity among organizations, individuals and partners throughout the ASEAN Community. It will feature two key thematic portals: “ASEAN TechConnect” and “ASEAN Culture & Tourism Bridge.”
Through this platform, participating parties will be able to share information, connect with potential partners, showcase initiatives, promote cooperation opportunities and progressively build substantive networks across the region.
The ASEAN Friendship Bridge website should be regarded as a strategic deliverable, rather than merely a communications product. It will serve as an instrument for sustaining the outcomes of the conference, maintaining connections among organizations and partners, expanding cooperation networks and ensuring continuity between successive editions of the conference.
4. The conference is proposed and led by the Vietnam–Singapore Friendship Association, in coordination with the Vietnam–Thailand, Vietnam–Philippines, Vietnam–Malaysia and Vietnam–Indonesia Friendship Associations as co-organizers. It is scheduled to take place on 14 December 2026 at the Sheraton Hotel in Hanoi.
The conference is envisaged as an annual event, with Vietnam hosting its inaugural edition. Subsequent editions could continue to be held in Vietnam or rotate among other ASEAN Member States. The broader aspiration is for the conference to gradually develop into a common regional forum for ASEAN mass friendship organizations, with the participation of relevant partners from across the region.
With a long-term vision of connectivity and a clear orientation towards practical action, the conference aspires to open a new chapter in ASEAN people-to-people diplomacy: moving from friendship to cooperation, from exchanges to connectivity, and from untapped potential to tangible values and concrete outcomes. Through these efforts, the conference will contribute to building a united, cohesive, resilient and sustainably developing ASEAN Community—one in which the people are truly at the center, are active stakeholders in, and serve as a driving force behind the regional cooperation process./.
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