What a day at APEC

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Okay, so here’s the deal. I am sitting outside the Daewoo Hotel in Hanoi, Vietnam at a beautiful banquet table. It’s dark now and the main lights are from the candles on the table and lights around the beautiful pool. The temperature is about 70 degrees and there is a soft breeze blowing.

There are 14 people around the table, and there are at least 50 of these tables set up, white table cloths, French wine, wonderful food… My table mates are from Vietnam, Thailand, United Kingdom, Australia, and Singapore. There is music- the National Orchestra of Vietnam is playing. The men are all in dark suits, and the women are in evening gowns. Very pretty women in traditional Vietnamese dresses are serving us and waiters are not letting a glass go dry.

Sometimes I sit quiet for a while as my friends communicate in other languages. Soon someone looks at me and realizes I don’t understand and they either translate or get everyone to speak English. They all speak my language; I speak none of theirs. Everyone is nice and polite - but they are also joyful. It’s been a really good day. There is a lot to reflect on.

I went to the APEC (Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation) CEO Meeting today. It was held in a beautiful National Civic Center that was built specifically for this event. I don’t know how many people it sits- but trusts me- its’ huge. Every chair has headphones for translation there are several channels for different languages. I only had to use them once today though, because almost every speaker delivered his speech in English.

In one day I heard speeches from 7 heads of state. I sat on the 4th row, right in front of the podium. All the speakers were poised and confident, but if they hadn’t been they could have hit me with their sweat.

The day was opened by a keynote address from Vietnam’s President Nguyen Minh Triet, who delivered his speech in perfect English. Other world leaders who spoke today included:

• President Hu Jintao, China
• Prime Minister Surayud Chulamont, Thailand
• President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Indonesia
• Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, Singapore
• President Michelle Bachelet, Chile
• Prime Minister Helen Clark, New Zealand

In addition to these international leaders, there were many impressive CEOs and authors from around the world:

• Robert Friedman, Editor Fortune Magazine
• Nick Reilly, President of General Motors, Asia Pacific
• Christopher Rooney, Senior VP AT&T

And many others…

Back at the dinner I am trying to figure this all out…

This is Vietnam? Vietnam? I think of rice paddies and water buffalo, motorcycles and chaos. That still exists. You don’t have to drive more than about 15 minutes to see it.

But Vietnam is changing. It has just been admitted into the World Trade Organization. They are making Intel computer chips 15 miles from me. FedEx planes land here everyday. There are designer stores going up. Large apartment buildings, new hotels, technology…

Vietnam is still technically a communist country. But Capitalism is flourishing. Business is everywhere. What Vietnam is today, is completely different from ten years ago. What Vietnam will be in ten years is completely different than what it is today.

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Photos

APEC Opening Ceremony
The dancers and Gymnasts were wonderful!

APEC Friends
These are some of the people that I worked with (and partied with) this week.

Comments

[Lyle Fulton]

Great Job!
Arlyn, I have really enjoyed reading your travel blog. You've done a great job and we are all real proud of you. I enjoyed keeping up with Flat Stanley too. The pictures are wonderful as well as the text of events. We are looking foward to your return, be safe. Lyle

[Ha]

Hi, I'm glad that you have good experience in Vietnam. The only thing is that the person, whose picture was captioned as The President of Vietnam, is actually Lee Hsien Loong, the Prime Minister of Singapore. Mr Lee, by the way, did his undergraduate studies in Trinity College, Cambridge and Master degree in Harvard University. Hence, his English is world class, I guess.

[Angie]

Happy Birthday Arlyn!
Hi Arlyn, I am glad you made it home safely. This blog was very cool. I sure enjoyed it. I hope you have a nice birthday today. We will try to get you called this evening, I will check with Nalynn to see when you will be awake, I know the Jet Lag must be bad. Take care and get some rest.