On Sunday, Simon Fraser, the Foreign Office’s top diplomat on global economic issues arrived in Hanoi. We took him around town. The next day we had meetings with various Vietnamese government and National Assembly officials, British business and international organisations. Simon was impressed by the dynamism and the development of Vietnam, and the work being done in partnership with Vietnam by the British Embassy, DFID and British Council. His visit was also useful in helping explain the UK’s position on trade between Vietnam and the EU, following his previous job as chief advisor to EU Commissioner for Trade Peter Mandelson. I feel proud that the UK strongly supports free trade and believes that improved access to EU markets is an important way to ensure continued development of countries like Vietnam.

I met with other Ambassadors from the European Union and other countries this week. As always, we discussed a variety of matters. The international community is watching the current events in Hanoi concerning disputed pieces of land. This is an internal Vietnamese matter and we do not express any view on the relative positions. But we hope that peaceful and mutually acceptable solutions are found and that people can peacefully express their views at all times. It is also one of our principles that journalists should be free to report without fear of violence or repression.  The meeting with EU Ambassadors began in a sad way: we held a minute’s silence for our former Czech colleague, Ivo Zdarek, who had just left Vietnam to take up post as Ambassador in Pakistan. He and his Vietnamese fiancée were killed by the terrorist bomb in Islamabad. It was a personal reminder to us all of the evil and unfairness of terrorism.

We are glad that Deputy Foreign minister Pham Binh Minh will be visiting UK next month. Cooperation on a wide range of issues (trade and investment, development, education, foreign policy and migration/organised crime) has developed very quickly since PM Dung’s visit to the UK in March. We really do now have a “Partnership for Progress” – the motto of our 35 years of diplomatic relations.

This morning (Sunday 28 September) I had an early start (05.15) to take part in the annual fun run organised in Ho Chi Minh City by the British Business Group Vietnam to raise funds for charity. It was great to see so many people there, and such good support from UK and Vietnamese companies, as well as the Ho Chi Minh City authorities. I will be taking part in another one next Sunday in Hanoi.

In the next few days I am visiting the Mekong Delta region, including Can Tho and Vung Tau. Then I fly back to the UK for two weeks. I hope to meet up with my friend and counterpart Ambassador Hoan – Vietnamese Ambassador to the UK, and accompany Deputy Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh on some of his calls. I will also meet various people in the UK government and society who are interested in relations with Vietnam and be an assessor at an FCO Assessment and Development Centre – where British diplomats are assessed on their suitability for promotion to Senior Management level.

So still very busy. And I have caught a cold and a cough from the wet weather in Hanoi!

And finally… I was born in the county of Lincolnshire. I was very flattered that the local radio station, BBC Radio Lincolnshire, has asked me to take part in their breakfast show on 1 October, Lincolnshire Day. They are forming an imaginary Lincolnshire independent government (e.g. Lincoln City football manager Peter Jackson will be sports minister) and they have asked me to be their “Foreign Secretary”. I hope David Miliband doesn’t mind!

- Mark Kent, British Ambassador to Vietnam

Notes for Editors

See also: Ambassador's vietnamese language blog

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