Vietnam, BRICS partners to push new growth drivers: Deputy FM

Prime Minister Le Minh Hung will lead a high-ranking Vietnamese delegation to the 18th BRICS Summit in India from September 12-13 at the invitation of his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi, marking one of Vietnam’s important high-level multilateral diplomatic activities this year, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Nguyen Minh Hang told the press.

This year marks BRICS’ 20th anniversary. The bloc has evolved from an economic and financial policy coordination forum into a multilateral mechanism with growing influence, boosting cooperation and the voice of emerging and developing economies in global affairs.

Hang said the trip advances the foreign policy set by the 14th National Party Congress and the Politburo’s resolution on global integration in the new situation, especially the policy of promoting and elevating multilateral diplomacy, proactively and responsibly joining efforts to address common global and regional issues, and contributing to peace, friendship, cooperation and development.

Vietnam’s BRICS attendance gives it a platform to engage members and partners, debate global and regional governance, especially economic and development issues tied to emerging and developing economies; and identify directions and solutions. That supports Vietnam’s shift “from engaging in rule-making to contributing to shaping rules”, raising its voice in international frameworks, rules and standards, and cementing its global standing.

It also lets Vietnam grasp major development trends and cooperation directions inside BRICS and other multilateral mechanisms. BRICS’ agenda now stretches beyond economy and finance to new growth drivers such as science-technology, innovation, artificial intelligence and energy. Summit exchanges will help Vietnam read emerging opportunities and risks, learn from partners and sharpen policies for an independent, self-reliant economy with more effective, extensive and substantive global integration.

The trip is also an importance occasion to consolidate and deepen Vietnam’s ties with India, the 2026 BRICS chair, and with BRICS members and partners.
Participation in BRICS activities will create more space and momentum for bilateral cooperation, particularly in defence-security, trade, investment, science-technology, digital transformation, energy, infrastructure and innovation. It will help Vietnam diversify markets, partners and supply chains, access new technology initiatives and trends, and raise capital, technology, knowledge and market resources for national development.

As a BRICS partner country, Hang said Vietnam will join proactively, constructively and responsibly, contributing ideas and advancing specific cooperation initiatives and formats suited to its interests, capabilities and conditions.

At a discussion session themed “Resilience, innovation, cooperation and sustainability: Shaping the future for inclusive global growth,” PM Hung will lay out Vietnam’s vision, assessments and proposals on major international cooperation issues, including peace, economic growth, sustainable development and global challenges.

According to her, PM Hung’s bilateral activities in India are highly significant, maintaining high-level exchanges and momentum while concretising the common perceptions, agreements and major orientations reached by the two countries' top leaders to make the new partnership framework deeper, and more substantive and effective.

Although the trip lasts less than two days, beyond multilateral events, he will hold key engagements with Indian leaders and partners to reinforce political trust, deepen political, diplomatic, defence and security ties, and bolster strategic coordination in global, regional and bilateral issues of shared concern.

The discussions will focus on driving economic, trade, investment, science-technology, and infrastructure connectivity for concrete results. The two sides will seek to advance the goal of 25 billion USD in two-way trade by 2030, boost investment, hasten major flagship projects by Indian firms in Vietnam, and make breakthroughs in science-technology, innovation and AI, where India has strengths.

The goal is not just more goods and investment, but joint research, technology development, workforce training and deeper integration into emerging value chains, commensurate with the Enhanced Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.

The countries' high-raking leaders will share views on and deepen other key pillars, especially education-training, tourism, culture and people-to-people exchanges. Specific issues include more direct flights, two-way tourism, spiritual tourism and cultural industries, particularly film, as well as preserving cultural heritage and pushing people-to-people exchanges.

Hang expressed confidence the trip will provide new impetus for Vietnam-India relations to grow more strongly, substantively and effectively, bringing practical benefits to both peoples and contributing positively to global and regional peace, stability, cooperation and development./.