“Each year, the Asia Society hosts the high-profile, two-and-a-half-day Asian Corporate Conference, focusing on timely economic and business issues in the Asia-Pacific region. Since 1989, the Asian Corporate Conference has attracted an audience of more than 16,000 government leaders, diplomatic leaders, high-level executives, entrepreneurs, academics as well as prominent media makers from over 40 countries.
The Asian Corporate Conference 2009 will take place in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam from April 22 to 24.” (VietAbroader)
This year it is co-organized by The Wall Street Journal Asia and Ministry of Planning and Invesment - Vietnam. I deadly want to attend this event, so I decided to join Asian Society Contest. My audio response is here. I sat up until 4.30am this morning to work on it, so if you think my submission is good, please vote for me (you have to sign in to rate and comment 
). I submitted it a little late, so I have only 4 days left to be voted
Here is the trascript.
“I love Vietnam, a lot! And I know the reason why is far more profound than just because I’m Vietnamese.
“Why do you love Vietnam?”, “What do you love the most about Vietnam?” are 2 questions we are most likely to ask foreigners when they come visit Vietnam. To answer, people usually have a hard time thinking and the results are normally: “Vietnam is a beautiful country, people are friendly, hard-working; the weather is great, food is awesome”. Yes nothing wrong with these answers, and I know many of you love Vietnam for the same reasons. But what about Vietnamese? What would they say if you ask them what they love the most their Motherland?
My friend once asked me that and he was kind of shocked when I couldn’t answer. “Why? You don’t love Vietnam?” Yes, I do, ofcourse, I love Vietnam so so much. But just like when you love someone, it’s hard to say which part of his or hers you love the most.
I love Vietnam because Vietnam has been always trying so hard for better things. Vietnam has not only recovered so fast after the terrible war, but also risen up. The Vietnam War ended only 15 years before I was born but I’ve grown up without suffering any consequence of the war or even worrying about that. It’s amazing. Now we have big cities with high buildings, industrial parks with modern technologies where only couples of ten years ago, bloody battles once took place. We have high-speed Internet connection, mobile networks anyone can use where communication was once almost impossible. We have schools, hospitals, supermarkets, restaurants, theatres everywhere. Many people don’t believe Vietnam could recover that fast, but we did. Government and many private funds are investing a great sum of money to develop our industries. “Boat people” was a sad story about people who risked their lives to escape from Vietnam on unseaworthy and unsafe boats during 1970s, following the Vietnam War. They have reason to hate Vietnam, but they are coming back. Several days ago, I had a chance to talk to a successful entrepreneur who had just returned to Vietnam to invest and do business. He was among “boat people”, and surprisingly, he told me that he was still a Vietnamese no matter what. They are coming back because they can see Vietnam’s future and they want to be a part of it.
People no longer think of Vietnam as a country of war, but as a part of the world. Vietnam has joined many worldwide organizations and successfully hosted many international events, and I believe The 19th Asian Corporate Conference will be one of them. It’s not uncommon to see a non-Vietnamese-speaking person riding a motorbike in Vietnam or to run into a Vietnamese when you are travelling out of Vietnam. Ho Chi Minh City is already a multi-cultural city with high percentages of Chineses, Cambodians and even Americans and Europeans. I’ve enjoyed my first Thanksgiving with turkey, potato and pumpkin cake right here in Vietnam, in an American friend’s apartment together with many friends from different countries. My grandmother doesn’t know a single English word, but on the day of Earth Hour, she reminded me to turn off the light, and you know what her reason is? To save the world.
A foreign friend of mine once asked me if I ever wished to be born and grew up in a more developed country. My answer is No. Vietnam has given me many good things, and the most valuable thing I have is Vietnamese spirit in my blood, the spirit to overcome difficulty and thirst for the best. Maybe Vietnam is small and still a developing country with many challenges and obstacles, but I know, Vietnam will overcome them all just like we did in the past, to be an Asian dragon someday. ”
Thanks a lot 
Tags: asiansociety, vietabroader, Vietnam
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