Vietnam-UK Network Dinner June 2022

SEADA were delighted to have been able to attend the annual Vietnam-UK Network dinner, in the House of Lords in June. This marked the Networks 9th anniversary, it was a great opportunity to network with so many interesting organisations/businesses.

It was a lovely summer’s evening, this meant that the pre-dinner reception took place on the terrace with its iconic and beautiful view across the Thames. This was the perfect place to network, over a glass of prosecco.

The dinner began with a very warm welcome, with speeches from UKN Chairman Warwick Morris. He drew attention to host Lord Dholakia, President of the Liberal Democrats, Lord Vaux of Harrowden, and Sir George Howarth MP, all Committee members of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Vietnam. He warmly welcomed HE Mr Nguyen Hoang Long, Vietnam’s Ambassador and his wife, and of course the distinguished Guest Speaker, Prof. Sir Jonathan Van Tam, who received a heartfelt round of applause. After this warm welcome and encouraging remarks, guests settled down to eat.

Following the main course, Sir Jonathan was introduced where he spoke about personal stories and his back story about family, education and growing up as a mixed-raced child in a rural part of England. These personal stories were very well received by his audience.

Ambassador Long then spoke, about work going on to enhance the bilateral relationship, with the return to normality bringing about heightened activity. He finished with a message about the Embassy and the VUKN together have formed a team with common aims, to keep developing the relationship across the board at both government and non-government level.

Following dessert and coffee, VUKN Vice Chair, Bao Ha Pham, reminded the audience that the Network, run by volunteers with no government support, attached great value to its sponsor companies, large and small. She encouraged others to supporting the network, enabling to keep up its good work. She then announced the winner of the raffle who won two return tickets to Vietnam generously donated by the airline.

The evening came to a close around 10:30pm, it was a fantastic evening, and we thoroughly enjoyed getting to hear everyone’s stories and relationships they have with Vietnam.

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