VietNamNet Bridge – After a 13-day training course in the US, the deputy director of the Can Tho City Department of Foreign Affairs’ International Relations and Cooperation Division has not returned home and says he is studying in the US.

In early July, Tran Ngoc Phi Long, 31, Deputy Head of the International Relations and Cooperation Division of the Department of Foreign Affairs of Can Tho City, was sent to the US to attend a short-term training course under the cooperation program of the Union of Friendship Organizations of Vietnam.

However, after the course, Long stayed in the US. Long then sent a resignation letter by mail to the Can Tho Department of Foreign Affairs.

In the letter sent from the US, the official said he did not return home for family and health reasons. A source said that the official stayed in the US for a doctoral program. The case is under investigation.

Director of the Can Tho Department of Foreign Affairs – Pham The Vinh - said he had signed the decision to send Long to Canada.

Previously, Long attended a master’s program on "management of international relations" for 30 months (1/2007 to 6/2009) in the  UK, under a State-funded project to train 150 master’s and doctoral degree holders for Can Tho City.

Long returned to Vietnam in August 2009 and was assigned to work at the Can Tho Department of Foreign Affairs and later served as the deputy head of the international cooperation division.

Praised for his good qualifications and good English, Long was the interpreter for Can Tho City’s senior officials during overseas business trips and international delegations to the city.

Long is the eldest son in his family and he is single. Long registered for the project to train 150 master and doctoral degree holders of Can Tho City in 2006.

Under this training program, the candidates must commit to serve Can Tho City for a period of time that is three times longer than their overseas study. Long fulfilled the commitment.

Pham The Vinh, director of the Can Tho Department of Foreign Affairs, said Long is not a Party member so he was not allowed to have access to important documents of the agency.

After the incident, the department checked records and documents and did not find anything abnormal.

According to Long’s family, they were very shocked knowing that Long fled to the US. Long then called home saying that he had stayed in the US for a doctoral program. He said he did not have money to get a visa to the US for the doctoral training program, so he took this occasion to go to the US.

Tran Cham