A native of Lang Do, Nghe An and his impressions of the late General Secretary Do Muoi

Below are some excerpts from the article: "Vietnam is ready to be a friend of all countries" by author Dieu An published in the book "Comrade Do Muoi - Imprints through historical stages" by the National Political Publishing House - Truth. The article records the sharing of former Deputy Prime Minister, former Minister of Foreign Affairs Nguyen Manh Cam about former General Secretary Do Muoi. This article was produced by Vietnamnet.vn.

While working in the Soviet Union, former Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Manh Cam often received calls at 2-3am (Moscow time zone) from former General Secretary Do Muoi to discuss work.

Here are some excerpts from the article.

Before 1986, when I was Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, I only had the opportunity to meet Comrade Do Muoi through meetings he convened. Every meeting he chaired was very lively. He listened and exchanged opinions, and if there was any unclear idea, he would ask again, forcing the speaker to clearly state his opinion. He often focused on issues with different opinions, forcing everyone attending the meeting to clearly state his opinion in order to find the truth.

Even in cases where he stated his thoughts first, he still listened to opinions that were contrary to his own and did not hesitate to accept them when he felt they were somewhat reasonable. What impressed me was that in life he was very simple, always wearing only a faded uniform; in contact he was always enthusiastic but sincere and intimate.

After the 6th National Congress of the Party (December 1986), I was appointed Ambassador to the Soviet Union. In April 1987, I went to Moscow to take up my assignment. In May 1987, a delegation of our Party and Government led by Comrade Nguyen Van Linh - General Secretary and Comrade Do Muoi - Vice Chairman of the Council of Ministers visited and worked with the Soviet Union's leaders.

At that time, our country was experiencing a serious socio-economic crisis. We had to rely on the help of our socialist fraternal countries, mainly the Soviet Union, to overcome the difficulties. Through negotiations, the Soviet Union's leaders decided to give us 1.2 billion transferable rubles (1 transferable ruble is worth nearly 1.5 dollars) in aid each year, of which a part was non-refundable aid, the majority was preferential loans, with very low interest rates and long loan terms...

Usually, for specific projects and rare materials, our responsible agencies must discuss with the leaders of your relevant sectors. At the talks, your Chairman of the Council of Ministers only agreed on the principles, but for the specific quantity, your Ministers attending the talks, if they were sure of the situation and agreed with our proposal, both sides would immediately approve it. Otherwise, the Ministers would meet with our relevant Ministers to discuss the details later.

For important issues, in order to save time, Comrade Do Muoi agreed with the Chairman of the Council of Ministers so that he and our Ministers could work directly with the other Ministers. This approach achieved good results. Partly because his presentation was convincing, partly because the other Ministers respected him. After the delegation returned to the country, the relevant ministries and branches were responsible for monitoring and urging the other Ministers to deliver goods that met our requirements.

However, delivery delays are often unavoidable. As the head of the Government, Comrade Do Muoi has a firm grasp of our requirements and closely monitors your delivery progress, especially for equipment, essential supplies and important goods.

Every day, after the morning meeting, if he sees any item that needs urgent transfer, he calls me and asks me to work with you immediately. But our time zone is 3 hours ahead of Moscow time zone in the summer and 4 hours in the winter. When the agencies in the country start working, it is only 2-3am in Moscow.

He often called 3-4 times a week, so one day I boldly explained: "Brother, it's only 2-3am in Moscow when you call, we've just gone to bed." "Oh, I was subjective and thought it was like I was at home. I'm sorry. Next time, I'll learn from my mistakes and call later."

About five days passed, and he stopped calling at that time, but then he forgot about it and called again. I told myself: "He personally supervised things that he shouldn't have to worry about. I have no right to miss work because of time when he still has so much work to do."

It was thanks to his urging that I was commented by Comrade Guxép - Vice Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union, Head of the Sub-Committee for Cooperation with Vietnam: "Thanks to the timely reminders of the Vietnamese Ambassador, my Sub-Committee fulfilled its commitments to Vietnam well, especially in the situation where you are facing many difficulties". Honestly, it must be said that it was thanks to the concern of Comrade Do Muoi.

I cannot tell you all about Comrade Do Muoi's mark in the field of foreign affairs, but I cannot fail to mention his decisive opinion on Vietnam's joining ASEAN, the first step in the process of integrating Vietnam into the region and the world.

In late 1991 and early 1992, after the Cambodian issue was resolved and documents on restoring peace in Cambodia were signed, comrade Vo Van Kiet, as Chairman of the Council of Ministers, led a delegation of our Government to visit ASEAN countries to improve and promote relations with ASEAN countries on the basis of the foreign policy of independence, self-reliance, openness, multilateralization, and diversification of international relations, which was approved at the 7th National Congress of the Party (June 1991).

On this occasion, some ASEAN leaders suggested that Vietnam consider joining ASEAN. Comrade Vo Van Kiet discussed with us, the members of the delegation, to reach a consensus on the report to the Politburo. When he returned home, he assigned me to report to the General Secretary.

After listening to my presentation, Comrade Do Muoi immediately said: "The situation has changed, based on the results of Mr. Kiet's visit, the attitude of ASEAN countries has changed compared to a few years ago when the Cambodia issue was still there. They are proactively cooperating to develop the region. At this time, joining ASEAN is appropriate. Joining ASEAN will increase our strength and increase our position." The issue was then brought up for the Politburo's opinion and the Politburo unanimously approved...