Doan Xuan Hung

Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs

Date of Birth: 10 March, 1957
Place of Birth: Hai Phong City, Vietnam

10 July 2008 – present: Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs

Feb 2008 – Jul 2008: Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs

Aug 2007 – Feb 2008: Director General of Economics Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Jul 2003 – Dec 2004: Director General of Protocol Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Dec 2002 – Jul 2003: Acting Director General of the Protocol Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Feb 2001 – Dec 2002: Deputy Director General of Americas Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Mar 1997 – Jan 2001: Minister Counselor, Embassy of Vietnam in Washington DC, USA

Nov 1994 – Feb 1997: Deputy Director General, Deputy Chief of MOFA Cabinet, Minister’s Secretary

Sep 1993 – Nov 1994: Officer, MOFA Cabinet, Minister’s Secretary

Nov 1989 – May 1992: Officer, Soviet Union Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Nov 1985 - Nov 1989: Third Secretary, Embassy of Vietnam in the Soviet Union

Nov 1984 – Nov 1985: Officer, Soviet Union Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Sep 1980 – Oct 1984: Officer, Embassy of Vietnam in the Soviet Union

Vietnam is pursuing an economic and political diversification programme and Doan Xuan Hung, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and special envoy of Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, has become a frequent visitor to Africa. In June and July, Hung led a delegation of bureaucrats from the Ministries of Industry and Trade, Agriculture and Rural Development, and Education, as well as executives from PetroVietnam and state telecom Viettel, to several African countries.

Hung visited Khartoum on 21-25 June, meeting both Sudan’s President Omer Hassan Ahmed el Beshir and South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir Mayardit. On 25 June, he moved on to Egypt to shore up relations with the country’s new leadership under Prime Minister Essam Sharaf. PetroVietnam also hopes to win assets in Egypt’s Suez Pronvince.

Hung then stopped over in Angola for meetings with Exalgina Gamboa, acting Minister of External Relations, and Movimento Popular de Libertação de Angola politburo member Carlos Quintos. Angola wants to open an embassy in Hanoi soon. By mid-month, Hung was back in Africa. This time, he called on President Ernest Bai Koroma in Sierra Leone, where officials agreed to expand cooperation in agriculture and fisheries. In late May, Hung and Morocco’s State Secretary to the Foreign Ministry, Latifa Akharbach, co-hosted the Moroccan-Vietnamese Joint Cooperation Commission.

Born in 1957 in Hai Phong City, Hung studied economics in the Soviet Union and Britain. His career in the foreign service has taken him to Vietnam’s embassies in the Soviet Union (1980-84, 1985-89) and the United States (1997-2001). He has also served as Director of Protocol and Economics.  After additional studies at the Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics and Public Administration in 2006 and at the National Defence Academy in 2008, Hung was promoted to Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs in July 2008.