The Ministry of Foreign Affairs conducted the 28th Diplomatic Conference in Hanoi on Monday, reviewing the past performance and discussing plans to boost diplomacy in the future. The conference was attended by more than 700 delegates coming from agencies under the ministry, along with a number of leaders and ex-leaders of the Party and Government, and many heads of Vietnam’s overseas representative offices. Addressing the opening ceremony, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh said that the conference aimed to review the implementation of the country’s foreign policy and international integration guidelines in the first half of the 11th Party Congress tenure, and define comprehensive and effective measures to successfully realize the Party’s foreign policy in the years to come. At the conference, the leaders of the Ministry of Public Security, the Party Central Committee’s Commission for External Relations, the Ministry of Defense and the National Assembly’s Committee for External Relations delivered their speeches, giving important assessments on the regional and international situation. They also suggested orientations and measures to foster foreign relations work in all pillars as well as enhance collaboration between forces in charge in the coming time. With a determination to successfully implement diplomatic tasks assigned by the Party and State, Deputy PM Minh asked participants to comply with the guidelines and policies of the Party, clarify existing problems and their objective and subjective causes and take effective measures to resolve them. Speaking at the event, Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong stressed that diplomatic work has greatly contributed to maintaining and consolidating a peaceful and stable environment that create favorable conditions for strengthening national construction and defense. Diplomatic activities have also helped maintain the country’s independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity, the Party leader said. During the past years, Vietnam has continuously promoted its role as an active member of regional and global institutions and participated more deeply in the Southeast Asia and Asia-Pacific linkage, the leader said. He cited Vietnam’s recent election to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Board of Governors, UNESCO World Heritage Commission and the UN Human Rights Council in the 2014-2016 term for the first time. General Secretary Trong pointed out specific tasks for the diplomatic sector in the coming time. Accordingly, the sector should continue playing a leading role in ensuring a favorable peaceful environment for national construction and defense as well as realizing strategic tasks in socio-economic development with a view to developing Vietnam into an industrialized country by 2020. The Party leader emphasized the need to persistently pursue the renewal process, multilateralization and diversification of international relations, and continue to develop friendly neighborliness, strategic and comprehensive partnerships. The sector needs to be persistent in properly addressing border and territory issues, peacefully solving existing problems and different perceptions in the East Sea on the basis of abiding by international law, especially the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, respecting the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC) and working towards the formation of a Code of Conduct in the East Sea (COC).