Vietnam Women's Union

This is the second visit by the Queen to Vietnam after her first visit in October 2002. Accompanying the Queen were spouse of the Foreign Relations and Cooperation Minister Dominique Maunac, Royal General Secretary Mr. Ricardo Diez – Hochleiner, and the King Assistant Mr. Alfonso Carlos Gomez. Receiving the Queen and the delegation were Mme. Ha Thi Khiet, member of the Party Central Committee, VWU President; Mme. Ton Thi Ninh, member of the Party Central Committee, Head of National Assembly’s Committee for Foreign Affairs; and members of VWU Presidium.

Active in social welfare activities, in addition to official and institutional activities, Queen Sophia is Executive Chair of the Queen Sophia Fund, Honor President of the Support Fund for drug addicted users and the Royal Fund for the disabled, and is involved with culture activities and operation of several culture establishments, including Queen Sophia Musical School. She also takes an active participation in international projects for rural women's advancement and to develop small credit funds for the poor.

Through the meeting with VWU leaders and staff members and through her visit to the Vietnam Women’s Museum, the Queen was introduced more deeply about the country and people of Vietnam, about the role of Vietnamese women throughout the history of nation foundation and defense, and the achievements gained by VWU currently, particularly in the fields of economic development, poverty reduction, and maternal and child health care. VWU President Mme. Ha Thi Khiet expressed her sincere thanks to the attention and generous assistance by the Spanish Government to Vietnam and the Spanish Royal to Vietnamese women and VWU. Greek Princess Iren, sister of Queen Sophia, has paid several visits to Vietnam since 1990s and is chairing the World in Harmony – an organization supporting the very successful diary cow project in Ha Tay province and many other development projects. President Ha Thi Khiet expressed her aspiration for increasingly better relations between the 2 countries with more practical benefits to the Vietnamese women, particularly the rural poor, during integration and development process.

Queen Sofia was happy for the chance to visit VWU head office and the Vietnam Women’s Museum and expressed her pleasure at the increasingly broader cooperation between the 2 countries. She also suggested a number of cooperation activities in the future to support the rural poor women in Vietnam.