The first conference of the "Interagency Task Force on Vietnam" was held near New York City in December 1989, bringing together representatives of 95 American (and one Australian) NGOs, diplomats from the UN Missions of Vietnam and Laos, a former ambassador of Sweden to Vietnam, and officials from UN agencies It has evolved with two name changes into a unique multi-national multi-sectoral structured encounter between representatives of non-governmental relief and development organizations, foundations, universities, businesses, corporate philanthropies and government agencies with "non-governmental" counterparts and government officials from the three countries to discuss development issues facing the region. Some conference alumni are now ranking ministry officials in Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam involved in policy decisions regarding social, economic and environmental issues.
In January 1999, the 9th Forum Conference was held in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, the first time in the region. Some 450 people met to share information, experiences and strategies. The national origin of the registrants is illustrative of the change in the Forum constituency: Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam—51%; US—24%; Europe, Australia, Canada—22%; other Asian—3%. Most of the participants were nationals of, or posted in, Indochina, but 20% came to the conference from other locations. The 10th Forum conference was held in June 2001 in Vientiane, Lao PDR bringing together nearly 600 representative of government ministries, local and international non-governmental organizations, mass organizations, bilateral and multilateral development agencies, foundations and universities to discuss development issues in Indochina. As with the 9th conference the majority of the participants were from Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam - 68%, followed by those from the US - 14%, Europe, Australia, Canada - 12% and other Asian - 3%.
Both the Phnom Penh and Vientiane conferences proved to be a very productive gathering for exchange between host country and international practitioners. They offered to people from home offices and funders an unusual opportunity to place their own interests within a larger context of regional development cooperation. The Vientiane Conference enabled more than 50 provincial government officials and 100 national level government officials from the Lao PDR to join in the discussions.
The overall assessment of the 9th and 10th Forum conferences were that they offered a good opportunity for development professionals, government officials and donors from all development sectors - who do not normally have the opportunity to meet in one setting - to share information and discuss new methods of cooperation with each other. The participants agreed that it would be beneficial to hold additional conferences in the region to continue these discussions and foster more regional interaction. However, the exact format and content of future Forums is still to be determined following discussions in the region with conference participants, representatives of the three governments and their foreign counterparts.
The Fund for Reconciliation and Development (FRD), a sixteen-year-old International NGO based in New York, serves as the secretariat for the Forum. It coordinates the conceptualization, planning and logistics of the conference. In this role, it has assisted in organizing conferences of this kind and scale for more than a decade. FRD works closely with the Department of International Organizations of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Laos, the Vietnam Union of Friendship Organizations and the Council of Ministers of Cambodia, as well as with international and domestic NGOs in the three countries to plan the conference and to select speakers and participants.
