Hanoi, Thursday afternoon of last week, I joined the official delegation of Francois Fillon. To start of with, we naturally went by the embassy where the “delegate” badge had its effect. Later that day we went to the office of the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Planning. This gave me the opportunity to point out the incredible leverage that the software industry in Vietnam represents, through appropriate investments (quite modest), when we think that very soon this country will have more than 100 000 engineers in the information technology sector and probably around 500 000 in 20 years. Taking into consideration the true depth of the Franco-Vietnamese relations, this could result in a fabulous working relationship, given the shortage of sustainable engineers in France.
Thursday evening, with a small delegation of only a dozen business owners, I accompanied Mr. Fillon, Mesdames Pecresse and Idrac, Mr. Bussereau to a dinner given by the Prime Minister of Vietnam. I was invited, along with Marwann Lahoud, Director of strategy and marketing and number 2 of EADS, Philippe Favre, Vice President and Director of the International Network of Alstom, Michel Cornil, Chairman of Systra, Bernard Di Tullio, CEO of Technip, and many others of the same category… Impressive!
Friday, we took part in a Franco-Vietnamese forum of entrepreneurs. I would like to make one small observation. The interactivity during this forum was actually quite low and this is regrettable!
I will say little about Friday afternoon and evening, which was spent in relative confusion, and ended in Hue, the ancient and magnificent imperial capital of Vietnam. All that I retain from this evening was that I spent it in the Airbus of the ministerial delegation, along with… a lot of champagne. I talked with Mangeard Philip, Vice President of Ubifrance, a patented serial entrepreneur (Modalohr, Unik Media Sesit, Expert au Carre…)! We did not leave the company of each other until Saturday evening. I would absolutely like to do this again! But let’s forget about this Saturday afternoon, that posterity will probably remember less than we do…
Saturday, a fantastic visit to Hue in the company of a small delegation with François Fillon, Anne Marie Idrac and other entrepreneurs. I had the opportunity to meet an incredible, dynamic entrepreneur, Alain Glon, 68 years old, and 80 factories, 4000 employees in the agro-food industry in France. An exceptional meeting and one that I would like to renew.
Finally, I had a short conversation on the bridge of a boat, with the Prime Minister, over looking the River of Perfumes and we talked about the role that France could play in training and schooling in Vietnam. Thank you, to all those who gave me this opportunity… but I have my small idea!!























