Mr. Nguyen Phu Trong, General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam, passed away in Hanoi at the age of 80.

Nguyen Phu Trong was born in 1944 into a farming family during the Japanese occupation of Vietnam, then a French colony. At the height of the Vietnam War, he joined the Workers’ Party, which became the country’s current ruling party. He studied the Russian language and ideological issues, which soon propelled him into a political career that led him to various roles, including editor of the party magazine, chairman of parliament and secretary of the party committee in parliament.

In 2011, Trong became general secretary of the party, the highest political office in Vietnam. Under his leadership, Vietnam grew in regional stature, establishing itself as a proactive player in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. He was the first Vietnamese leader to visit the United States in 2015 and it was in Washington that he sought recognition for his country as a market economy, a goal that now seems close to producing the desired result. After the signing of Vietnam’s free trade agreements with the European Union and the United Kingdom and the promotion of Rcep in the Asia-Pacific, Vietnam is increasingly becoming a high-quality production hub and a crucial junction of world trade.

One of his legacies will certainly be bamboo diplomacy, a particular approach to foreign policy that serves to maintain peace, prevent conflict and promote international cooperation in a global context marked by deep instability. Vietnam is the only country to have hosted the presidents of Russia, the United States and China in the past year.

Known and appreciated for his speeches on the ‘socialist revolution and the constant improvement of the material and spiritual life of the people’, Trong has written several books, including those on strengthening the party and fighting corruption.
The Italy-Vietnam Foundation, in paying tribute to H.E. Mr. Nguyen Phu Trong, sends its deepest condolences to the civil and political authorities of the People’s Republic of Vietnam and to all the Vietnamese people.

In a constant effort to promote friendship and strengthen cultural ties and mutual knowledge between the two countries, and as a sign of respect for the figure of Mr. Nguyen Phu Trong, he sends his deepest condolences to the civil and political authorities of the People’s Republic of Vietnam and all the Vietnamese people. Nguyen Phu Trong, the Foundation undertakes to promote a bamboo diplomacy awareness initiative in the near future.