Official visit to Vietnam: Dinner with NGOs in Hue

Ladies and gentlemen,
Dear friends

We have had a fantastic visit to Vietnam so far. In Hanoi we have both had several bilateral discussions, and very fruitful and good discussions with his HE the President, the Prime minister and the Vice President. We touched upon the broad range of cooperation between Vietnam and Norway.

One of the important points that was brought up by the Vietnamese side, was the important work that the civil society does in Vietnam, and how they appreciated that we could cooperate in this field.

If you look at the big statistics and the figures in economics for instance, you can see that Vietnam has come at long way when it comes to poverty elimination. And I think we saw some very good examples today of how civil society can contribute to positive life changes for people all around Vietnam.

It’s very nice to be here in Hue, the cultural capital of Vietnam.

We were very happy to see some of the activities that you showed us today. Integrating or using sports as a tool for both enhancing life quality in itself through doing sports,

but also including the other aspcect of life skills and using sports as a tool and a motivator.

The cooperation between sports, football and the clearance of explosives we saw today was fantastic. And of course the important reminder of how climate change is changing our planet and how we have to mitigate climate gases, but also that we need to adapt to a new reality.

The swimming training that we saw today was an example of that.

My wife and I would both like to express our gratitude and say thank you for hosting us in such a warm manner here in Hue. We are very much impressed by the warmth and hospitality of the Vietnamese. In addition to that we would like to thank each and everyone of you for the important work you do to make people’s lives better. And of course focus on young people and youth is also something that is close to our hearts.

Thank you very much.