Sonoma Sister Cities reaches out to Socialist Republic of Vietnam

This week the Sonoma Sister Cities Association will host Dr. Nguyen Hong Thach (pronounced “tike”), Counselor in the Economic Section of the Embassy of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam in Washington, D.C.
Thach is coming with his family to explore trade ideas and a possible sister city relationship between the Vietnamese city of Phan Rang and Sonoma.
Born in northern Vietnam in 1963, Thach has a doctorate in International Politics from the Australian Defence Force Academy, and was a fellow at Georgetown University in 2002. He is in charge of promoting trade and investment between regions of Vietnam and the states of the U.S.
The visit is the result of Sonoma resident Jill Hunting’s trip to Washington last November. Hunting, whose brother died in the Vietnam War, had gone to read names at the 25th anniversary of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. At the Vietnamese Embassy she met with Dr. Thach and the Minister of the Economic Section and talked with them about her ideas for a sister city relationship and certain trade possibilities she had seen on her last visit to Vietnam.
“The city of Phan Rang has some similarities to Sonoma,” she said Monday. “They have mountains and cactus. The amount of rainfall in that area is comparable to here, and I thought maybe lavender could be grown there.” Hunting said she could picture lavender soaps and sachets in the hotels made from local crops.
Thach and his family will arrive late Wednesday. On Thursday the group will visit the Sonoma Valley Visitors Bureau, the Rock Hill Estate lavender gift shop on First Street East and the Matanzas Creek Winery. On Friday, July 18 they will drive to UC Davis to meet with people in the Plant Sciences and Enology departments.
Bill Boerum, president of Sonoma Sister Cities Association, said, “Jill has been working on developing a sister cities relationship with Vietnam since our board and the city council voted to explore the feasibility of the idea some time ago.”
With a population in excess of 85 million, the Socialist Republic of Vietnam has one of the strongest economies in the world, Boerum said, with a growth rate in excess of eight percent. It is enjoying increasing ties with the U.S. since it was granted unconditional normal trade relations (NTR) status by our government less than two years ago and admitted to the World Trade Organization (WTO) shortly thereafter.
The possibility of a sister cities relationship is still in the exploration stage, he said, with potential interest by our community and benefits to us still to be assessed. Currently only four cities in Vietnam have sister cities relationships with U.S. cities.