Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son. Photo: VNA

On the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the signing of the Geneva Accords (July 21, 1954 - July 21, 2024), Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son shared the meaning of the Geneva Accords and valuable lessons for Vietnam's diplomatic endeavors.

What were the results and significance of the 1954 Geneva Conference?

On July 21, 1954, the Geneva Accords was signed after 75 days of intense and complicated negotiations.

For the first time in our nation's history, Vietnam's basic national rights of independence, sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity were affirmed in an international treaty, recognized by the countries participating in the Geneva Conference.

This is the result of our people's struggle under the leadership of the Party during the long resistance war against colonialism, culminating in the victory of Dien Bien Phu.

Along with the Dien Bien Phu victory, the Geneva Accords completely ended the colonialism that lasted nearly 100 years in our country, opening a new chapter in our people's cause of national liberation and unification.

The signing of the Geneva Accords is not only a historical milestone for our nation but also has epochal significance. This is a common victory for the three Indochina countries and peace-loving people around the world. This agreement, along with the Dien Bien Phu victory, strongly encouraged oppressed peoples to stand up and fight for national liberation, opening the collapse of colonialism around the world.

With our country's diplomacy, the Geneva Accords is the first multilateral international treaty that Vietnam participated in negotiating, signing and implementing.

It not only affirms Vietnam's position as an independent and sovereign nation in the international arena but is also an important milestone in the development of Vietnam's diplomacy, leaving valuable lessons for Vietnam's diplomatic endeavors.

What lessons has the signing of the Geneva Accords left for Vietnamese diplomacy, especially when we are trying to build a comprehensive, modern diplomacy, imbued with the identity of "Vietnamese bamboo"?

The process of negotiating, signing and implementing the Geneva Accords is a valuable handbook on Vietnamese foreign policy and diplomacy, which has been inherited, creatively applied and developed by our Party in the later negotiation, signing and implementation of the 1973 Paris Peace Accords, as well as in the implementation of current foreign affairs work.

In addition to lessons in principles such as ensuring the Party's unified and absolute leadership, independence and autonomy on the basis of national and ethnic interests, the Geneva Accords left behind many valuable lessons about diplomatic methods and art imbued with Vietnam's diplomatic identity.

It is the lesson of combining national strength with the strength of the times, national solidarity linked with international solidarity to create "an invincible strength".

During the process of negotiating the Geneva Accords, we constantly enlisted the support of people around the world for the just struggle of the Vietnamese people.

Throughout that process, we have always persisted in the principles of peace, national independence and territorial integrity.

We are also flexible and have strategies appropriate to the correlation of forces, the international and regional context to achieve strategic goals.

It is a lesson about using dialogue and peaceful negotiations to resolve disagreements and conflicts in international relations. This is a modern lesson, especially when many complex conflicts are taking place in the world today.

Deputy Minister of National Defense Ta Quang Buu (sitting, right), of the delegation of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, and French General Henri Delteil, Acting Commander-in-chief of the French Union forces in Indochina, sign the agreement on the cessation of hostilities in Vietnam. (File photo: VNA)

How do you evaluate the support, assistance, and support of progressive friends in the world for the Vietnamese people while participating, negotiating, and signing the Geneva Accords?

Our people's just struggle for peace, national independence, unity, and territorial integrity is in line with the trend of the times and the common aspirations of progressive people in the world.

Therefore, in the cause of national liberation and unification, in negotiating, signing, and implementing the Geneva Accords, we always receive great and valuable support both materially and spiritually from international friends, from Laos, Cambodia, socialist countries and peace-loving people around the world.

In the process of Doi Moi (renovation) and implementing the Party's foreign policy, we continue to receive valuable support and cooperation from the international community based on equality and mutually beneficial cooperation.

Our Party, State, and people always appreciate and forever remember the support and assistance of international friends. At the same time, within our abilities, we always support and contribute responsibly to the common efforts of the international community for peace, independence, democracy, and progress in the world.

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