The Richmond Diplomatic Society Hosts the Ambassador of Vietnam

22/02/2011

This past week’s event from the Richmond Diplomatic Society welcomed the Vietnamese Ambassador to the United Kingdom, Mr. Tran Quang Hoan. The panel consisted of Vice-President, Mark Kopenski, and President of the Diplomatic Society, Saed Sarsur.

Starting at 4:30pm on Thursday, 17th February the event began with a brief 15 minute introduction to Vietnam from the Ambassador himself. This included a summary of its former self to its current free market economy. The Ambassador continued to stress the importance of Vietnam’s membership to ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asia Nations).

After the introduction, the open discussion began with questions from the audience. Questions varied from issues relating to the structure of Vietnam's economy, its main resources and exports, investment interests, and national alliances.

The event ended with a short discussion in regard to the possibility of a group of Richmond students going to visit Vietnam in the future. The Ambassador stated: “I would like to thank the president of RDS for the invitation, and I would like to give my regards to the Diplomatic Society for raising up Vietnam in this respectful discussion. It is a delight to see students with an interest in the beautiful country of Vietnam and we hope to see a developing relationship between the Diplomatic Society and the Vietnamese Embassy.

"It would be interesting for our students to visit Vietnam. It’s a country with great culture and history indeed. We as an institution would love to see our students visiting Vietnam and I will do my best to see the Diplomatic Society making it happen. I want to thank His Excellency for his visit and I hope to see more Vietnamese students with us in the future,” said Mr. Mark Kopenski.

Saed Sarsur added, “I would like to thank his Excellency for the warm words, and we are honored to have him here with us. I am thankful for his invitation to visit Vietnam. I am sure that it will be interesting and challenging for us to meet both the culture and history of Vietnam.”

A big thank-you goes to the RDS Spokesman, Josh Nedeljkovic, who hosted the event.

Link to this page: http://www.richmond.ac.uk/n/1061.aspx