Ambassador Giang, who visited Ratner last weekend, praised initiatives by Ratner and her husband for helping Vietnam improve the effectiveness of its people-to-people diplomacy.

Mr. Giang said he hopes the couple will continue to boost exchanges between Vietnam and representatives of left-wing movements in the US to further improve mutual understanding between the two peoples.

Ambassador Dang Hoang Giang presents a gift to Ms. Merle Ratner.

Ratner is a leading left-wing activist in the US who participated in protests against the American war in Vietnam when she was 13.

She is a co-founder and coordinator of the US-based Vietnam Agent Orange Relief and Responsibility Campaign (VAORRC).

Ngo Thanh Nhan, Ratner’s husband, who has a Ph.D. in Linguistics from New York University, has contributed to coding and standardizing Vietnamese, Han Chinese, and Cham scripts on computer. He is also Vice President of the Vietnamese Nom Preservation Foundation in the US.

Nhan, like his wife a VAORRC co-ordinator, also participated in the American anti-war movement in the 1960s.