Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi – October 5, 1995

At nine in the morning - Vietnam time - we landed at Hanoi airport. The cabinet minister had come to welcome. After a little delay, we moved towards the city. The city of Hanoi is very old with humble buildings and small and half-empty shops and streets empty of cars, but full of bicycles and motorcycles. On the way, I asked many questions about the weather, rain, agriculture, people, etc., which increased my knowledge. Among other things, I asked him about the Azim Red River dam, which my companion could not answer the question of its water supply; But Dr. Kalantari, [Minister of Agriculture], later said that he brought 160 billion cubic meters annually.

We went to the residence. It is an old building that was built fifty years ago as the seat of the French ruler of Vietnam and is in the neighborhood of the former French; It seems to be the only good and prosperous point of the city. The official reception was here. [Mr. Lee Duc Anh], the president and members of the cabinet were waiting. The wife of the president of Vietnam also came for chastity; Sun, song and introduction with the members of the board and the future ones and passing through the ranks of girls who were throwing flower petals in front of our feet were done. In the big hall of the building, a few sentences were exchanged between me and the host and it was a short meeting.

We went to our room to rest; The building is comfortable, with many large rooms, but old. All family members are with us. Companions went to other places. We had lunch with Iranian dishes that were brought from our embassy.

We had an official meeting. Matters were raised about the importance and issues and fields of cooperation, such as construction, cement, steel, tea, rubber, etc. Then we had a meeting with the private sectors of Iran who have come here with the delegation to get work. They come from large contracting, design, engineering and consulting companies; We examined the fields of cooperation. They asked for government support to export services and invest here.

Then we went to meet [Mr. Dodo Mui], the general secretary of the Communist Party, who is known as the leader of the country. He is eighty-six years old, but healthy and cheerful. We had important discussions about the resistance of the Vietnamese against France, America and Japan and the great losses and the need for reconstruction and the current backwardness, the atrocities of the United States and its greed today, and the need to preserve and strengthen independence with the cooperation of the two countries. I did not expect him to speak against America with such frankness, because they are moving towards cooperation and normalization. I invited them to Iran; was happy

I came to the residence. Prayer and reading the reports and then participating in the dinner ceremony which was done with the speech of the host and myself. During the dinner and also in the limited private meeting in the evening, many questions and answers were exchanged and we got closer to cooperation in the field of rubber, tea, phosphate, cement and refinery. The food was simple and mostly seafood. Efat also had a separate dinner ceremony with other ladies. Then we had a discussion and decision with Mr. Velayati and Mr. [Aladdin] Boroujerdi about the issues of Afghanistan and the Muslims of the Philippines. I wrote the memories of two days and read the reports and slept.