The Vietnamese Embassy in France on July 28 held a ceremony to present first prize of the second National Award on External Information Services, to French journalist and film-maker Daniel Roussel for his documentary film entitled “Vietnam war: in the centre of secret negotiations.” 

Vietnamese Ambassador to France Nguyen Ngoc Son (R) and Daniel Roussel.

The 53-minute film spotlights stories of confidential talks and battles of wits between special advisor of the Vietnamese negotiation team Le Duc Tho and US Secretary of State Henrry Kissinger from 1968 to 1973 for the Paris Agreement. 

Total 45 negotiations were held in Paris suburban cities, including Choisy-le-Roi, Gif-sur-Yvette and Saint-Nom-la-Breteche. As many as 247 open and secret talks were organised from March 15, 1968 to January 27, 1973 before the Paris Agreement was reached. 

Roussel started collecting data for the film since 1984, with various interviews with historical figures, including former Vice President Nguyen Thi Binh and former Vietnamese Ambassador to France Trinh Ngoc Thai. 

Speaking at the ceremony, Vietnamese Ambassador to France Nguyen Ngoc Son congratulated Roussel on winning the prize, expressing hope that the National Award on External Information Services will inspire him to produce more valuable films in the field. 

On his part, Daniel Roussel showed his honour to receive the prize, expressing his love for Vietnam where he called his second homeland. 

The 2015 National Award on External Information Services, the second time of its kind, saw the competition of about 800 works from all over the world in 11 languages, including Vietnamese, English, French, Russian, Chinese, German, Spanish, Japanese, Korean, Lao and Bulgarian.

VNA