The Vietnamese Consulate General in San Francisco, US, on September 2, held a ceremony to hoist the National flag at the city hall in the presence of local officials, including Charlotte Mailliard, head of San Francisco’s protocol department.

Vietnam’s red flag with its golden star was jointly raised by Ms Mailliard and Le Quoc Hung, who is the Vietnamese Consul General to the US city.

Mr Hung said that the event was of great significance because the Vietnam national flag was raised at the centre of San Francisco, a major city where there are more than 700,000 Vietnamese residents.

On this occasion, the San Francisco Government handed over a document signed by its mayor, which recognizes September 2 as Vietnamese Heritage Day in San Francisco.

** On the same day, the Vietnamese embassy in Russia received guests who came to celebrate Vietnam’s National Day.

The guests included Russian Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Denikov and two vice presidents of the State Duma.

Mr Denikov praised the longstanding ties of friendship between Vietnam and Russia and expressed his belief that the strategic partnership between the two countries will continue to develop.

Meanwhile, the Vietnamese ambassador to the Belgian Kingdom, Nguyen Manh Hung, who is also head of the Vietnamese mission to the European Union, organized a banquet to mark National Day, attracting nearly 600 officials, including the Belgian Ministers of the Interior, Education, and Traffic, leaders of the Belgian political parties, and senior officials from the European Parliament and European Commission.

On the evening of September 2, the Vietnamese embassy in France held a ceremony to mark National Day with the participation of representatives from the Association of Vietnamese in France and the Franco-Vietnamese Friendship Association.

** On September 2, the permanent Vietnamese mission to ASEAN, headquartered in Jakarta, Indonesia, hosted a reception for the ambassadors of ASEAN countries and ASEAN dialogue partners.