Commercial Counselor tells story of 'ambassadorial trip' during Tet

February 12, 2024 1:30 PM

Mr. Nguyen Manh Quyet (red shirt) celebrates Tet with the business community in the US. (Photo in NVCC article).

(PLVN) - Tet for Vietnamese people is a time for gathering, resting, meeting, and taking care of relatives... But Tet for Commercial Counselors - those assigned the task of "going on a mission" - is still a daily task, even a time of working more when they can connect and "catch the pulse" of those who live far away from home...

Tet is always the most sacred time

In our conversations, the trade counselors and trade representatives we had the opportunity to meet all affirmed that the Vietnamese community everywhere always turns to their homeland, to their roots, especially during Tet holiday... There are people who have been away from home for decades but still try to maintain and preserve the beauty of Vietnamese culture. Some people are even dedicated to compiling bilingual Tet books for children to preserve the Vietnamese soul for future generations.

Commercial Counselor Nguyen Thi Hoang Thuy - who has spent 10 consecutive Tet holidays abroad while participating in trade missions in Australia and is currently on duty in Sweden (concurrently in Denmark, Norway...) confided: "No matter where I am, no matter how many years I have worked abroad, to me, Tet is still something very sacred"...

Every Tet holiday, Vietnamese representative agencies abroad always organize community Tet to inspire the love of homeland and country of the children living far away from home. Therefore, they have created special moments and painted a colorful picture of Vietnamese Tet all over the world .

For the Head of the Commercial Branch in Houston (USA) Nguyen Manh Quyen, Tet is a time to temporarily rest to wish relatives and friends a happy new year, but immediately after that, he "spends a lot of time reviewing the work of the old year and thinking about work plans for the next year".

The task that the Commercial Counselors and Heads of Trade Offices abroad undertake is very heavy, "contributing to increasing the presence of Vietnamese goods in the local area, calculated by the specific import turnover value each year". Therefore, almost all trade workers when "going on a mission" take advantage of their time to meet and connect with overseas Vietnamese businessmen as well as international businesses.

Especially during Tet, the opportunity to connect increases. “Every time Tet comes - Spring comes, it is always a time for us to sit together, turn to the Fatherland, with the hope of having more opportunities to cooperate, helping the community and the country develop” - Mr. Nguyen Manh Quyen shared.

“The desire to do great things” of overseas Vietnamese

Tham tán thương mại Nguyễn Hoàng Thúy (áo đen) trò chuyện với nguyên Quốc vụ khanh Thụy Điển trong một hội chợ giới thiệu hàng Việt.

Commercial Counselor Nguyen Hoang Thuy (in black) talks with former Swedish Secretary of State at a fair introducing Vietnamese products.

Vietnamese people, wherever they are, want to contribute to building the country. That is the resource for the Trade Office to be confident in its mission. "Vietnamese goods must first be welcomed by our Vietnamese community, then spread to the local people" - Trade Counselor Nguyen Thi Hoang Thuy affirmed.

And the story of Vietnamese people joining hands to consume the first lychee shipment in faraway Australia was told by her with the same emotions as about 10 years ago... In 2015, lychee was the first fresh fruit from Vietnam that was allowed to be imported into Australia. But no business dared to import it due to the long distance transportation and the unsecured conditions for preserving the lychee. "At that time, we had to commit to supporting the consumption of all the first shipments for businesses, because we wanted Vietnamese fresh fruit to have a smooth and favorable path to Australia, despite the disadvantage of the distance between the two countries," said Ms. Thuy.

And the Trade Office had to “take to the streets” – literally – with Vietnamese businesses and lawyers in Australia to call on people to try it. In less than 1 hour, more than 300kg of lychees were sold out and more than 30 tons of lychees were consumed in the first trial season, which is the successful path for Vietnamese fresh fruit to enter Australia.

Bilingual Tet book.

The head of the Vietnam Trade Office in Houston shared that after many years of working in trade affairs in Switzerland and the United States, he was very impressed with the "desire to do big" of Vietnamese businessmen abroad. "Doing big" of Vietnamese businessmen in the US is aiming to open shopping centers, distribution systems, logistics services, large warehouses to import more Vietnamese goods into the US in the near future... "After many years living abroad, I realized that the strongest common point of Vietnamese people far from the Fatherland is sympathy, support, sharing... Especially during festivals or Lunar New Year, people often spend a lot of time sharing with each other how to do business in a multi-ethnic country, often showing each other how to find "goods and partners" in large areas of the US" - Mr. Quyen shared.

Thus, generations of successful businessmen all wish to have more new projects to help Vietnam build more industrial parks, invest in more factories, expand scale and services in Vietnam, thereby building the image, brand of businesses, products with strong Vietnamese characteristics to contribute to the homeland, contributing to enriching the Vietnamese community in each country...

“Every time Tet comes - Spring comes, it is always a time for us to sit down and turn to the Fatherland, with the hope of having more opportunities to cooperate, helping the community and the country develop” - Mr. Nguyen Manh Quyen shared.

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