Lê Văn Triết

Lê Văn Triết (6 June 1930 – 13 October 2024) was a Vietnamese diplomat who served as Minister of Trade and Tourism of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam from 1991 to 1992 and Minister of Trade of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam from 1992 to 1997.

He, along with Vietnamese Prime Minister Võ Văn Kiệt, helped realize the economic implementation of Đổi Mới, which became a major initiative to modernize Vietnam decades after the Vietnam War. It was this initiative, along with Vietnam War veterans that ultimately led U.S. President Bill Clinton to lift the U.S. embargo against Vietnam in 1994, with formal diplomatic relations taking place in 1995. Lê Văn Triết was instrumental in reintroducing Vietnam to the rest of the global economy after years of relative isolation as a result of the Vietnam War.

Background Lê Văn Triết was born into a peasant family in Trung An Commune, My Tho City, Tiền Giang, a province in Southern Vietnam on 6 June 1930. He retired from active politics on 1 January 1999, but was still supportive in local Vietnamese politics. Vietnam was shifting, as he pointed out in the speech, "...from a centrally planned economy to a market-oriented economy under state management."

He was the Cabinet Minister of Trade during the 9th Government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam from 1992 to 1997 under Prime Minister Võ Văn Kiệt.

Lê Văn Triết was given the task of negotiating on behalf of Vietnam with the rest of the world that the socialist country was open for foreign direct investments. He was the lead negotiator that ultimately led to the Socialist Republic of Vietnam being accepted into the ASEAN Economic Cooperation. The ultimate success of this mission culminated in Vietnam's acceptance into the World Trade Organization after 11 years of back-and-forth negotiations between Vietnam and WTO members.

Even though the U.S. embargo against Vietnam was lifted in 1994, it took nearly 11 years of negotiations with the Reagan, Bush, and Clinton Administrations before Vietnam was fully accepted into the world economy.

With his contributions to the Party's revolutionary cause and the country's construction and development, Lê Văn Triết was awarded by the Party and the State the First Class Independence Medal, the Third Class Resistance Medal against France, the First Class Resistance Medal against the United States, the First Class Labor Medal, the National Citadel badge, the 75-Year Party Membership badge, and many medals, certificates of merit, and noble awards from the Central and local Ministries and Branches.