Defence diplomacy is an important part of national diplomacy, contributing to the cause of defending the Motherland early, from afar, creating a peaceful and stable environment for nation building and development. Fully aware of this, the Institute for Defence International Relations (IDIR) has been striving to successfully carry out the task of international cooperation and defence diplomacy in the new era.

To implement the Party’s policy on international integration and defence policy, fulfilling the requirements of national construction and defence in the new era; at the same time, on the basis of timely grasping the role and trend of international and regional defence integration, on December 21, 2002, the Minister of Defence issued Decision No.189/QD-BQP on the establishment of the IDIR. This is an important agency, responsible for regional and international security and defence studies; advising the Ministry of National Defence on the work of defence diplomacy; organising and participating in regional and international multilateral conferences, workshops, forums and bilateral dialogues on security matters.

Immediately after its establishment, the Institute focused on thoroughly grasping the Party’s foreign policies and Ho Chi Minh’s thought on foreign affairs, especially the idea “more friend, less enemy” and the principle “pitting the unchangeable against the changeable” to apply these principles in studying and forecasting international relations trends, defence, security and foreign policies of other countries, and multilateral and bilateral defence and security cooperation situations. On this basis, the Institute advised the Central Military Commission and the Ministry of Defence on guidelines, solutions and countermeasures in international defence relations, participated in bilateral and multilateral, regional and international defence cooperation mechanisms.

In recent years, IDIR has worked closely with relevant agencies to advise the Central Military Commission, Ministry of Defence in drafting and implementing many resolutions, projects, programmes, and plans of action on international integration and defence diplomacy; promoting multilateral defence and security cooperation initiatives to become more and more in-depth, practical and effective; successfully advised and organised many ASEAN defence meetings and participate in international and regional, multilateral and bilateral conferences, forums and dialogues; reviewed thousands of documents related to defence diplomacy of Central ministries, departments, branches, etc., in accordance to the Institute’ functions and responsibilities.

Every year, IDIR welcomes many delegations of high-ranking officials, scholars and experts and defence leaders from other countries to visit and work in Vietnam. Additionally, the Institute has actively established a network of partners with domestic and foreign research institutes to promote cooperation, exchange, research on international issues of mutual interest; jointly seek measures to enhance defence and security relations between Vietnam and other countries, and regional and international organisation.

Director of IDIR made welcome speech at the 10th ASEAN Sergeant Major Annual Meeting in Hanoi, 2022

These activities have helped international partners to have proper understanding of the foreign policy of our Party and State, the defensive and peaceful nature of Vietnam’s defence policy, enhancing mutual understanding and trust, promoting cooperation and support for each other at multilateral forums, and contributing to maintaining peace and stability for the region and the world. Besides, the Institute pays attention to the development of the Journal of Defence Relations, improving the quality of propaganda and information dissemination work for national diplomacy in general and defence diplomacy in particular. Thanks to achievements over the past 20 years, IDIR has been honoured with many noble awards by the Party, the State, the Military and international partners. In particular, on its 20th Traditional Day, the Institute was awarded the Order of Safeguarding the Motherland First Class by the State. This is a great source of encouragement for the Institute’s leadership and staff to continue to strive for further successes in their assigned tasks.

In the coming years, the global and regional situation will continue to be complicated and difficult to predict. The world is entering the process of reshaping after the Covid-19 pandemic with landmark changes. The world order is transforming towards a multi-polar, multi-centre one with a shift in the balance of power. The Indo-Pacific Region has become not only the centre of new economic linkages, but also the focus of the strategic competition between major powers. Territorial and maritime disputes are becoming more intense, complicated and drastic. Non-traditional security challenges are increasingly affecting our country in all fields, including national defence and security. With all the regional and global developments mentioned above, in order to continue to improve the quality of the work of international integration and defence diplomacy, contributing to the task of defending the Motherland “early, from afar”, IDIR focuses on effectively fulfilling the following objectives:

First, continue to educate and enhance the awareness of the Institute’s cadres at all levels on the Party’s viewpoints and guidelines on international integration and defence diplomacy. Due to the characteristics of their work, the Institute’s staff often have to operate independently, away from the management of their superiors, and make contact with foreign organisations and individuals, therefore, it is of utmost importance for them be educated on the guidelines and principles of the Party and the State on foreign policy, resolutions, directives of the Central Military Commission and the Ministry of National Defence on international integration and defence diplomacy as they are the “beacon” for the unit to successfully execute all assigned tasks. In order to implement this objective effectively, the IDIR determines to enhance the awareness of cadres at all levels on goals, guidelines, principles as well as requirements, tasks, solutions for foreign affairs stipulated in the Party’s resolution and directives, the main focuses are the 13^th Party Congress Resolution, 11^th Military Party Congress Resolution, Resolution No. 22-NQ/TW dated April 10, 2013 of the Politburo (11^th Tenure) on "International integration"; Resolution No. 806-NQ/QUTW, dated December 31, 2013 of the Central Military Commission on international integration and defence diplomacy to 2020 and subsequent years. In the process of implementing these tasks, the Institute focuses on innovating education methods and contents, creatively and effectively applying various education and training models, such as: organising group learning in combination with cadres’ self-studying at all levels; organising inspection and assessment of the results of learning activities, take these results as a key criterion to evaluate the working performance of the Institute’s cadres and Party members.

Second, focus on building a cohort of staff capable of meeting the requirements and fulfilling all tasks in the new period. In the coming years, multilateral regional and global defence and security cooperation will continue to expand and become more substantive in terms of contents, scale, form and level; meanwhile the partners and subjects of Vietnamese revolution are transforming more rapidly with more complex characteristics. In order to firmly grasp the situation and effectively advise the Central Military Commission and the Ministry of National Defence in policies related to international relations and deterring external threats from afar, IDIR determines that it must continue to focus on building high quality human resource to meet task requirements, considering this a decisive factor for the quality and effectiveness of the unit in the work of international integration and defence diplomacy. First of all, the Institute focuses on effectively leading and directing the work of planning, organising, training and appointing personnel to enhance the organisational structure at all levels. Beside opening onsite training courses to improve the professional qualifications for the staff, the Institute has actively worked with relevant agencies of the Ministry of National Defence to make plans for the transfer and dispatch of cadres to training courses at military and civilian schools, in combination with training abroad to ensure that its staff will be able to meet task requirements both in the immediate and long terms. In particular, IDIR focuses on educating to enhance and improve the staff’s political awareness and research, forecasting and strategic advisory capability on international integration and defence diplomacy. Additionally, the Institute organises more research collaboration, delegation exchanges, seminars, conferences, forums with prestigious domestic and foreign institutes so that the staff can learn and accumulate experience to improve their professional knowledge and skills to meet the requirements of assigned tasks.

Third, work closely with functional agencies to improve the quality of the work of international integration and defence diplomacy. Defence diplomacy is a component of national diplomacy, therefore in order to implement this work effectively, there must be a close coordination between the three diplomatic pillars (Party diplomacy, State diplomacy, and People to people diplomacy) and the diplomatic branches of various fields such as: security, economy, culture, etc., creating a comprehensive diplomatic network, promoting diplomatic synergy to effectively conduct defence diplomatic activities. Therefore, IDIR continues to strengthen information sharing and exchange and coordination with diplomatic agencies of the Party, State and the Military and other relevant institutions to improve the quality of research, forecasting and strategic advisory activities on international integration and defence diplomacy; firmly grasp global and regional situations, especially the shifts in defence, security and diplomacy strategies and policies of major powers and neighbouring countries. In addition, the Institute focuses on assessing and analysing favourable factors and challenges that directly affect the country’s national defence and security and the task of international integration and defence diplomacy. These assessments and analyses serve as the basis to advise the Party, the State, the Central Military Commission and the Ministry of National Defence in developing and planning strategies and methods to appropriately handle diplomatic matters to ensure the success of the task of safeguarding the Motherland in the new situation.

Along with that, IDIR focuses on closely coordinating with relevant agencies to develop the Strategy for International Integration and Defence Diplomacy to 2030 and beyond; effectively implementing breakthrough phases in international integration and defence diplomacy. Additionally, the Institute actively advises and proposes initiatives and participate responsibly in regional and international security forums and mechanisms. At the same time, the unit exploits the advantages of information exchange channels with foreign military officials and diplomats in Hanoi, the publication of Journal of Defence Relations to promote the work of propaganda and information dissemination on foreign affairs and Vietnam’s international integration process and defence diplomacy in the new period.

Based on the Institution’s achievements in 20 years of organisation building, development and growth, combined with the effective and uniform execution of the objectives mentioned above, the leadership and the staff of IDIR believe that, in the new period, under the direct leadership and management of the Central Military Commission, the Ministry of National Defence; with the cooperation and support of agencies at all levels, the Institute will keep improving the quality of the work of international integration and defence diplomacy, contributing to the success of the task of safeguarding the Motherland “early, from afar”.

Senior Colonel DUONG QUY NAM, Director of IDIR