Vietnam Welcomes Its Expatriates’ Trade Mission : Commerce: Entrepreneurs hope to meet with high-ranking officials on the trip, which has stirred controversy in Orange County.

The first trade mission of Vietnamese expatriates to visit their homeland since the Vietnam War ended a generation ago was welcomed warmly here Sunday for a week of talks with high-ranking Communist officials, but their hopes of meeting with the country’s president were dashed.

None of the delegates expressed disappointment, saying they still expect the visit to promote trade and improve relations between the two countries.

The delegation had hoped to meet with President Le Duc Anh and Premier Vo Van Kiet; instead they were told on arrival that they are tentatively scheduled to meet with a deputy premier today and the vice president on Tuesday.

Co Pham--president of the Westminster-based Vietnamese Chamber of Commerce and organizer of the mission--had said in August that the Vietnamese had verbally agreed on sessions with President Anh and other top government officials. The delegation’s preliminary brochure also mentioned the likelihood of such top-level sessions.

Government organizers said schedule conflicts prevented Anh from meeting the Americans.

The group of 24 led by Pham were given red roses at the lakeside hotel and had dinner with the Viet Nam-USA Society, a Hanoi friendship organization that has been coordinating this trip.

“This is my first time back to where I was born (Hanoi) and I’m so sad to see it so poor,” said Pham, crying soon after arriving at Tay Ho Hotel. “I feel so sorry for Vietnam. I’m more convinced than ever that all Vietnamese nationals should come back here to help.”

That intention had led him to organize the trade mission, which was designed to introduce American businsss professionals to top decision makers in the Vietnamese government.

Members of the trade mission, half of whom were born in Vietnam, say their purpose is strictly business, but they realized their mere presence in Hanoi has political overtones back in Southern California.

“We are here for business, business, business,” said Philip Tuong Nguyen, vice president of EPG Asia, an international trading company in Anaheim Hills specializing in water purification systems.

“It is time to forget the past,” said Nguyen, who had been imprisoned by the Communist government for two years before escaping Vietnam by boat. “We have the obligation to help our country and the people. If you raise the people up (economically), democracy will follow suit.”

Some of the delegates declined to reveal their names and hometowns, fearful that anti-Communist demonstrators would come to their front lawns.

After plans for the trip were announced in August, hundreds of anti-Communist protesters camped outside Pham’s Westminster medical office and denounced the mission.

The demonstrators branded Pham a traitor for heading a delegation to meet with the enemy of the fallen Republic of Vietnam. Renewed business ties with the current Vietnam, they said, will help preserve a Communist government that violates human rights.

Organizers also refused to provide the list of participants on the mission. Pham said most of the delegates are entrepreneurs in construction, food processing and retail.

Among them is Christopher Murphy, a Costa Mesa finance consultant who is representing four Orange County companies interested in contracts to improve Vietnam’s infrastructure. For example, one company is building homes in Poland while another is doing work on railways in Germany.

“There is a lot of work to be done in Vietnam,” said Murphy, who said his impressions of the Southeast Asian country are based on what he has seen in movies and read in the media. He now wants to learn more about Vietnam policies regarding international trade.

Another is Los Angeles resident David Hayden, managing director of a food processing company. Hayden and his Vietnamese wife, Phuong, said they are visiting Vietnam for the second time because they want to participate in this historical trade mission.

“I think all the demonstrations will pass,” said Hayden, of Borderless Investment Group. “It’s time to go on.”

On the ride from the airport to the hotel, the Americans saw Vietnamese working in rice fields; the narrow streets of Hanoi full of bicycles and lined with rundown buildings. Once at the hotel, the vice president of the Viet Nam-USA Society punctuated the friendly dinner with a message directed mostly at the Vietnamese Americans.

“It is time for you to come back to your country,” Nguyen Huy Phan said. “You can feel the openness of the Vietnamese people here. I hope after your stay you’ll be able to do something concrete for the benefit of all of us.”

The delegates are scheduled to meet members of Vietnam’s Chamber of Commerce in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, where they will be on Thursday. They will leave Ho Chi Minh City to return to the United States on Oct. 9.

Three of the delegates were stuck in Hong Kong on Sunday awaiting entry visas to Vietnam. They were expected to join the group in Hanoi today.