This will be the former first lady’s first visit to Vietnam.
Last week, on October 11, Michelle Obama announced via a video message on the Today Show that she would travel to Vietnam in December 2019 to promote female empowerment and education. The news was released on the International Day of the Girl, an annual occasion designated by the United Nations to “highlight and address the needs and challenges girls face.”
“When girls get the opportunity they deserve, our whole world benefits. That’s why we’ve been working with grass-roots leaders and organizations around the world who improve girls’ life every day,” Obama explains in the clip.
At the time of writing, it’s unclear exactly when the visit will take place, or which parts of Vietnam will be included in the itinerary.
Obama added that she will be joined by Jenna Bush Hager, a news personality and daughter of former US President George W. Bush, and “a few other special guests.” Thanh Nien reports that the trip will include Julia Roberts, Vietnam’s own Ngo Thanh Van, and Lana Condor. The star of the Netflix original movie To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, Condor was born in Vietnam and adopted by an American couple in 1997.
The Obamas have been well-received by the Vietnamese public, especially after Barrack Obama’s trip as president in May 2016, when he ate bún chả with the late Anthony Bourdain in Hanoi and stopped by the Jade Emperor Pagoda in Saigon.
To promote girls’ education, the former first lady visited Asia in 2015, with sessions in Tokyo and Kyoto, Japan; and Siem Reap, Cambodia. The Vietnamese version of her memoir Becoming was released in Vietnam this past July.
[Photo via CNBC]
