Authorized by the French President, French Ambassador to Vietnam Olivier Brochet gave the noble order to former Vietnamese Ambassador to France Dinh Toan Thangat a ceremony in Hanoi on August 26.
Addressing the ceremony, the French diplomat said the Legion of Honor was a well-deserved recognition by the French State of Thang’s outstanding diplomatic career and his contributions to Vietnam’s international integration.
He affirmed that Mr. Pham Toan Thang had devoted much of his diplomatic career to consolidating and promoting the friendship and cooperation between Vietnam and France.
Reviewing the ambassador’s more than 30-year diplomatic journey closely linked to France, Brochet described him as a “special case”, having served four terms at the Vietnamese Embassy in Paris.
Former Vietnamese Ambassador to France Dinh Toan Thang began his career there as an attaché in 1995, before serving as Second Secretary from 2001 to 2005, Minister Counsellor and Minister from 2010 to 2014, and finally Ambassador from 2021 to 2025.
During his tenure from 2021 to 2025, the ambassador made decisive contributions to major advances in bilateral relations. Amid the formidable challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic, he helped promote medical solidarity between the two countries while actively maintaining and advancing high-level political dialogues, including Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh’s official visit to France in November 2021 and, notably, General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee and President To Lam’s official visit to France in October 2024, which marked a historic milestone as the two countries elevated their ties to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.
His tenure also witnessed another landmark in bilateral relations with French President Emmanuel Macron’s state visit to Vietnam in May 2025.
Deeply moved to receive the prestigious decoration from the French Republic, Mr. Thang expressed his sincere and profound gratitude to the French President, Ambassador Olivier Brochet, as well as his family, friends and Vietnamese and French colleagues.
He said that contributing to and nurturing Vietnam-France relations had been both a motivation and a major goal throughout his career of serving the country. The ambassador expressed his confidence that the Vietnam-France Comprehensive Strategic Partnership would achieve even greater accomplishments in the future.
