Spain proudly holds a Feminist Foreign Policy. This is why we have curated the exhibition “The World Needs Superheroines” at the Vietnam Museum of Fine Arts, with free entrance from 28 October to 13 November and comprising the prints of 62 Vietnamese and Spanish female comic authors. We warmly invite you to visit it and to reflect on the value we should put on women voices all over the world. Another major Spanish priority in the world is the promotion of a new development model that understands that there is no progress without respect for the environment.

Therefore, this year, we wished to highlight the contributions of those members of the Vietnamese environmental community who have listened to the urgent cry of our planet. Firstly, at the proposal of this Embassy, Dr Trang has been awarded with the Princess of Girona International Prize, with which Spain wishes to recognise at the highest level the leadership role of the Vietnamese youth. Dr Trang is the first Asian personality and the first Asian woman to receive this high distinction. Secondly, we have coordinated a Scientific Diplomacy project in which environmentalists from Viet Nam and Spain have exchanged letters sharing their opinions.

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Our third green project this year also reflects another aspect of Spain’s traditional foreign policy, namely our vocation to act as a bridge between Latin America, Europe and Viet Nam. As a prelude to what will be Spain’s Presidency of the EU in the second half of 2023, we have been honored to coordinate the First International Environmental Film Festival in Viet Nam, “It’s time to act”. In it, Vietnamese audiences in Hanoi and HCMC were able to enjoy 17 films, documentaries and short films from 14 different countries from three continents, and 9 Vietnamese environmental organisations in Viet Nam were our partners. It included the screening of a film and a short film in which Vietnamese filmmakers showed the valuable work of defenders of the beautiful Nature in this country. With these actions, we hope to contribute to Viet Nam’s rise as a world centre of reference in the essential defence of the environment, in line with the international commitments made by its government at COPS26.

In this common objective, this year, we have witnessed an increase in the arrival of Spanish companies from the renewable energy and water management sectors, which are investing in Vietnam to support its authorities and the Vietnamese people in their ecological and digital transition. Spanish companies in these and other sectors, from high technology, automotive, fashion and tourism, have increased their commitment to Viet Nam’s socio-economic development with the creation in 2022 of the Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Viet Nam.

Finally, the promotion of the Spanish language has always been a priority for us. The language that we share with our Latin American sister nations is a global language that allows people, companies and countries to strengthen their ties with a market of more than 580 million Spanish speakers. The Spanish language is an instrument of socio-economic development, as much as a vehicle for mutual understanding and for the defence of equality. To prove this, we have created the first Spanish-Vietnamese dictionary of LGTBIQ+ terminology, inspired by the one produced by the State Federation of Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals, Transsexuals and Transvestites of Spain.