The Foreign Service Journal, September 2016

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | SEPTEMBER 2016 47 Ted Osius is U.S. ambassador to the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. During a 28-year Foreign Service career, he has served in the Philippines, the Holy See, U.S. Mission to the United Nations, Vietnam (twice), Thailand, India, Indonesia and Washington, D.C. O ne of my men- tors, Ambassador (ret.) Cameron Hume, said it was crucial to develop strategies far in advance in order to bring concrete accomplishments over the finish line during a senior-level visit. Anything worth doing takes time, serious effort and an investment of intellectual capi- tal, he said. Mission Vietnam began hearing of a possible presidential visit a year before it actually took place, so we decided to put Ambassador Hume’s theory to a test. At a country team workshop precisely a year before the visit, we began to envision what actions —I like to call them “joint endeavors” as opposed to “deliverables,” because they involve Over the Finish Line: Winning Strategies for a Successful Visit Advance planning and sustained initiative from mid-level officers who own their ideas are the keys to a fruitful high-level visit. BY TED OS I US COURTESYOFU.S.EMBASSYHANOI U.S. Ambassador to Vietnam Ted Osius, center, with Scott Kofmehl, left, and Alex Titolo at the Hanoi airport to receive President Barack Obama on May 24. FOCUS ON DIPLOMATIC TRADECRAFT both partners—would truly move U.S.-Vietnam relations to the next level. Communist Party Chief Nguyen Phu Trong has noted that when our two countries engage in practical activi- ties together, we build trust, so at least at the top-most level of Vietnam’s hierarchy there was support for a “joint” approach. We concluded internally that a visit would allow us to deepen rela- tions in five areas of engagement: joint prosperity; educational collaboration; environment, science, technology and health; security; and governance.