We can do more to make a better life for victims of Agent Orange/Dioxin, especially women and children, the most miserable victims of the toxic chemical."

In Vietnamese students' manuals, Nguyen Thi Binh is known as a "woman diplomatic peace general" for her role as Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Provisionary Revolutionary Government of South Vietnam during the signing of the Paris Agreement in 1973. She was elected Minister of Education and Training, Vice President of the National Committee for the Advancement of Women, and Vice President of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Now retired, she is helping uplift victims of the war and other disadvantaged groups such as children and women.

Nguyen Thi Binh was Minister of Foreign Affairs for the Provisionary Revolutionary Government of South Vietnam during the negotiations to end the Vietnam War in Paris in 1973. Her persuasive speeches at the Paris Conference forced the enemy to sign the Paris Agreement with the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam) and the Provisional Revolutionary Government of South Vietnam. The Agreement was a great diplomatic victory for the Vietnamese people. It also showcased the talent and bravery of Nguyen Thi Binh, whose intelligence, dedication and patriotism helped make peace and independence possible for millions of Vietnamese. During her years at the negotiating table in Paris, she educated her children (then eight and 12 years old) by recording tapes for them. Her father was ill at the time, but because of her work in Paris she could not care for him or see him before he died. Nguyen Thi Binh says, "I cried while signing the Paris Agreement because I thought of my deceased compatriots and comrades who could not know about that important event. It was a great honor in Paris to represent the Vietnamese people and revolutionary soldiers in the direct struggle against invaders and to sign the successful agreement after the Vietnamese people’s 18 years of just war. I thought about my family, my husband and children, my relatives, compatriots and comrades, my international friends and overseas Vietnamese. My tears flowed again. That was surely the deepest experience in my diplomatic life." Now retired, Nguyen Thi Binh is president of the Fund for Child Protection, honorary president of The Vietnam Association for Victims of Agent Orange/Dioxin, vice president of the Committee in Solidarity with People in Asia and Africa, and president of the Kovalevskaja Fund for Vietnamese.

Fund for Child Protection The Vietnam Association for Victims of Agent Orange/Dioxin Committee in Solidarity with People in Asia and Africa