Mme Ton Nu Thi Ninh

Socialist Republic of Vietnam

Director, Tri Viet Center for Social and Educational Research

Madam Ninh served her country as a diplomat for more than two decades, specialising in multilateral institutions (United Nations, Non-Aligned Movement, Francophonie, ASEAN) and global issues (international peace and security, development, environment, governance, and human rights). She was the chief architect for key international efforts on behalf of Vietnam, such as the holding of the Summit of French-Speaking Countries in 1997 in Hanoi. 

From 2000 to 2003, she was Ambassador and Head of Mission to the European Union in Brussels, then, until 2007, vice-chair of Vietnam’s 11th National Assembly’s Foreign Affairs Committee with a special focus on North America and Western Europe. She is currently a member of the Asia-Pacific Leadership Network for Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament. 

In her present initiative, the Tri Viet Center for Social and Educational Research – a knowledge and idea exchange to help develop societal awareness around critical issues – Madame Ninh's leadership draws upon her first calling as a scholar and academic. She taught at the Sorbonne after obtaining an Agregation from the Ecole Normale Supérieure de Fontenay-Aux-Roses (France) in the 1960s. Madam Ninh is also actively engaged in post-war legacy issues, such as rapprochement with the Vietnamese diaspora, and the impact of Agent Orange/dioxin in Vietnam. She is known as one of the public figures having significant impact in today’s Vietnam.