Nguyen Co Thach

Who was Nguyen Co Thach?

Nguyễn Cơ Thạch was a Vietnamese revolutionary, diplomat, and politician. He was Foreign Minister of Vietnam from February 1980 to July 1991. Thạch was seen as pragmatic and influential. His time in office coincided with part of Vietnam’s transition from an ideology-based alignment to the Soviet bloc towards a pragmatic approach to foreign policy, including the primacy of economic over ideological considerations, integration into ASEAN and closer relations with non-socialist countries. However, Mr Thạch’s efforts to normalize relations with the United States were not successful.

Thạch's son Phạm Bình Minh is the current Foreign Minister of Vietnam.