Newsroom

I made a courtesy call on the President of the National Assembly where I could successfully conduct the whole conversation in Vietnamese.

Since I arrived back in Hanoi after my summer holiday at the beginning of August, things have been busier than expected.

On 8 September, we organised a reception to celebrate the 35th anniversary of UK – Vietnam diplomatic relations with the presence of His Royal Highness the Duke of York and Vietnamese Minister of Investment and Planning Vo Hong Phuc. This was the third visit by HRH since 1994 and I know he is keen to return. Much was achieved including the opening of the British University in Hanoi, and awarding of bank licenses to HSBC and Standard Chartered

Later in the week, Secretary of State for Justice Jack Straw arrived in Hanoi – his first ever visit to Vietnam. The MOU on government to government cooperation in legal and judicial fields signed between the Minister and his Vietnamese counterpart defines many specific aspects for cooperation between the UK and Vietnam such as: rule of law, implementation of human rights, respect for freedom and democracy of citizens, law making process and improvement of legal institutions in the two countries. The Minister gave an excellent speech at Hanoi Law University.

In the mean time, we still keep an eye on what is happening around the world. We have been discussing the conflict in Georgia with our colleagues in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, given Vietnam’s position as a member of UN Security Council. We are concerned about respect for territorial integrity and sovereignty. I also had a chance to speak about the issue with nearly 50 Vietnamese journalists in a press conference in late August and some think tanks.

Another tragic event has been the storm Kammuri, leading to flooding and loss of lives in the northern provinces of Lao Cai and Yen Bai. I delivered a message of condolence from the Queen to the President and people of Vietnam in my introductory call on Deputy Foreign Minister Nguyen Quoc Cuong. The Embassy’s Consular Section was busy in ensuring British tourists stranded in Sapa and the surrounding area were able to return safely to Hanoi.

More personally, I have been taking my Vietnamese classes twice a week. On 19 August, I made a courtesy call on the President of the National Assembly where I could successfully conduct to the whole conversation in Vietnamese. I hope that more progress will be made. My wife, Martine, is determined to beat me. She left last week for a month-long homestay with a Vietnamese family in Thai Nguyen, a northern mountainous province 80 kilometres away from Hanoi.

And I like everyone else have been watching a lot of sports. Great Britain has done very well in the Olympics. The Premier League season, which is very popular in Vietnam, has begun. Arsenal, my team, is so far playing very well.

On 24 August, we commemorated the handover of the Olympic flag on to London as the next Olympic city with a friendly football match between the Embassy and the Vietnam Immigration Department. The rain could not stop nearly 60 supporters of both sides from gathering in the Thuy Loi University stadium to cheer the players. Henrique Calisto, the head coach of the Vietnamese national football team, was also present. The result is incredible: we lost 5-6 (after being 2-0 up at half time).

More training is needed! Let me know if there are any teams who want to play us.

- Mark Kent, British Ambassador to Vietnam