Mr. Vu Khoan, some close range

... One afternoon in October 2001. The autumn sky was clear blue and the sea was blue, sitting next to him on a sightseeing boat in Hamburg Port.

Generous in the sunshine and cool breeze, the story in the intimate atmosphere, as if reducing the distance. It is interesting to know that the first letter of the word combination KHOAN/ GIAN/ AN/ LAC - the secret to a healthy and long life of Vietnamese people was chosen by the elders to name him!

Khoan, the name of the son of the Foreman of a paper factory in the suburbs of Hanoi . When the National Resistance War broke out, when he was only 8 years old, he had to follow his father from his hometown Phu Xuyen, Thuong Tin to the Viet Bac resistance zone.

In 1951, Vu Khoan was sent to China to study. After 1954, he was selected to work at the Vietnamese Embassy in the Soviet Union, a chance to enter the diplomatic sector. Then a few years later, he studied at the Moscow School of International Relations.

With outstanding achievements in two classes a year and a talent for foreign languages, Vu Khoan quickly became fluent in Russian.

When I asked about the events - the times he directly interpreted for Uncle Ho, and later for important people like Le Duan, Pham Van Dong... He was very sparing with words and then smiled, "We didn't have to work so hard! Our grandfather (Uncle Ho) was fluent in Russian!"

I also wondered that, in the late 80s, he was still the "rank" of Assistant to Foreign Minister Nguyen Co Thach? Then Doi Moi, he just sat in the Deputy Minister's chair, was that too late? But he laughed and said "don't you know that the time I spent with Mr. Thach was the happiest time for me?"

And there are things that are difficult to say, as well as difficult for me to write. That was the time of the late 79s and early 80s of the embargo-era diplomacy, which he had to directly deal with.

He confided that there were months in a row when he could only sleep fifteen days a week!

Stories from near and far. He shared the tormented feelings of the poor Vietnamese envoys when carrying out their duties in foreign lands. He confided that our ancestors had a saying: “Nothing is more miserable than poverty.” That humiliation can sometimes lead people to cowardice!

I was also curious about the pen name Ho Vu he used. It turned out that the wife of diplomat Vu Khoan, Mrs. Ho The Lan, was once a key person in the Press Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs .

I would like to ask you for more information about the sensational event last year (ie 2000), in July 2000, Minister of Trade Vu Khoan took on the mission to go to the US to renegotiate the Trade Agreement (TBA) that both sides had initialed.

The story is long even though he only summarized it briefly. The listeners seem to be infected and share the hardships of a person worried about the fate of the country! Vietnam is very eager to have a trade agreement. But wants to change some details in the agreement to suit Vietnam's point of view. But will it be able to convince the US partner?

Finally, after much hardship, the original Agreement stipulated an investment ratio of 50-50, but Vietnam changed it to 51-49!

Then, after the two sides signed the agreement, Mr. Vu Khoan was received by President Bill Clinton at the White House.

… I also remember the 2001 gathering called the New Year's party of the trade sector. The party had two events: "Farewell to the old, welcome to the new" two "characters" Vu Khoan, who returned to work as Minister of Trade; and farewell to former Minister of Trade Truong Dinh Tuyen who went to guard Nghe An (Provincial Party Secretary). There was also the presence of Prime Minister Phan Van Khai.

As if suddenly remembering the long-standing elegant hobby of the former Truong Dinh Tuyen, the new Vu Khoan happily asked Mr. Tuyen to read poetry!

May the Prime Minister and Mr. Tuyen both agree.

“Dear Prime Minister, dear Mr. Vu Khoan, dear colleagues, there are many old poems that have been written and you have heard many, but today I would like to read a few lines that just came to mind...”

The large room was silent.

“Five years guarding this gate / I have experienced both sweet and bitter things / no one is a stranger / When I leave, who will regret it, who will be happy for me to go”.

Prime Minister Phan Van Khai smiled, looked at him with an encouraging look, "Surely not over yet?" He smiled, "No, not yet..." and continued, "Why think, why think / this love is very heavy, this meaning is very deep..."

Amidst the laughter, Mr. Sau Khai turned to him and smiled, "Hey, is that ending forced?"

The proactive style of the reception that day made many people think of Mr. Vu Khoan's future career breakthroughs. That was the proactive and decisive action in his position as Minister to have domestic and foreign trade promotion agencies. "Hey, how come Vietnamese people just sit and wait for customers to come and buy? In a market economy, we have to go out and sell products...". But at that time, no one was in charge of selling products, so he created trade promotion agencies, followed by investment promotion agencies, tourism promotion agencies...

During his tenure as Minister of Trade and then Deputy Prime Minister, Vu Khoan became famous in the fields of ASEAN trade bloc, APEC & ASEM (Asia-Europe Cooperation Forum). Then with BTA (Trade and Investment Agreement) and made an important contribution in the negotiations for Vietnam to join the World Trade Organization (WTO)...

Then there were the big things like expanding international relations, both bilaterally and multilaterally. Reaching out to the United States, South Korea, expanding relations with Australia and Japan. With Japan, he was the first negotiator, even secretly, to receive their first ODA.

A diplomatic official shared with me his impression of diplomat Vu Khoan.

It was a party held in Washington DC to celebrate the exchange of the Letter of Ratification of the Vietnam - US Trade Agreement (BTA). The party took place in a large room paved with white marble. Present were officials from both parties (Democrats, Republicans), and both houses (Senate, House of Representatives). Also present were representatives of famous US businesses and representatives of large Vietnamese businesses.

At the beginning of his speech, Mr. Vu Khoan smiled and said:

“Last night, I had a dream!

Immediately the auditorium fell silent.

Mr. Vu Khoan in the museum of the genius musician Johann Sebastian Bach

(The ambassador paused to add that most Americans know this famous quote from Martin Luther King, an anti-racism activist in the US.)

People were silent with surprise and curiosity to see what this Vietnamese Minister of Trade was dreaming about?

Still with a leisurely demeanor, Mr. Khoan continued:

“I dream of being invited to a party where the entire floor is paved with marble imported from Vietnam."

Speaking of this, he invited representatives of Vietnamese construction materials businesses to stand up and greet.

The content and specific progress are not clear, but the audience burst into applause because the guests were quite impressed with the strange style, different from the way Vietnamese officials often spoke that they had witnessed.

Then Mr. Vu Khoan continued to describe the party where the tables, chairs, and guests' clothes were all imported from Vietnam. The main dish of the party was basa fish, and the dessert was dragon fruit and Buon Ma Thuot coffee. After each product name, he called on the Vietnamese representative to stand up and greet.

In the end, Mr. Vu Khoan dreamed of a Boeing 777 carrying American tourists gradually descending to land at Noi Bai International Airport.

Mr. Vu Khoan (right cover) at an event abroad

"When American tourists stepped off the plane at Noi Bai airport, graceful Vietnamese girls in traditional Vietnamese dresses happily rushed out to give them flowers.

But ladies and gentlemen, do you know, among the beauties who came to greet me, I suddenly saw a woman with silver hair. Looking closely, I realized it was my wife, so I woke up with a start."

More and more applause!

Now sitting here typing these lines. Thinking about the time when the Vietnam-US Trade Agreement progressed and became a reality like now, it is truly a dream! With the boost of the Trade Agreement, Vietnam's trade turnover with the US quickly increased from 700 million USD to 19 billion USD in 2012!

Dear Mr. Vu Khoan, the content of the Vietnam-US Trade Agreement (including 7 chapters, 72 articles, 9 appendices) that the pioneer Vu Khoan devoted his whole heart and soul to building has brought many good things. Basa fish, dragon fruit, Ban Me coffee... textiles, construction materials have been and are vividly present in the lives of Americans, not just a fleeting dream anymore!

I heard that Mr. Vu Khoan left a memoir? Surely his honest and straightforward character will convey the following: “At that time, Mr. Phan Van Khai asked me to attend a meeting at the Ministry of Construction. At that time, I persistently suggested not to build high-rise buildings in the center of Hanoi, but it seemed that it was not acceptable. As a result, it gave birth to the rampant construction situation like today.

… At that time, there were Chu Lai and Van Phong zones. From the experience of other countries, I also proposed that if you want to develop an export processing zone, you must have a "battery" - the energy that needs to be charged in order to explode. If you spend a lot of money without that energy, the zone will die.

Regarding decentralization to localities on foreign investment in particular and investment in general, he used to worry.

Decentralization must follow the general planning and the capacity of the staff - two necessary conditions. I have not calculated this completely, but only see the need to remove things that are too centralized, bureaucratic, and negative... To make the economy more dynamic, decentralization is needed, but I did not see that to achieve that, a very tight overall planning and very high human resource capacity are needed, so now everything is scattered.

Mr. Khoan regrets that there were things he saw wrongly that led to losses, and there were things he saw right but did not fight to the end for what was right, so he was helpless with the losses.

From his heart, Mr. Vu Khoan wrote these lines at the time when former Prime Minister Phan Van Khai and Mr. Sau Khai passed away.

“Musician Trinh Cong Son has profound lyrics, living in life requires a heart. With Anh Sau Khai - living in this world, he had a whole heart for the people and the country”.

But with Mr. Vu Khoan, the same sincerity and heart are complete!

Night of June 22, 2023

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