Vietnamese embassies in Cuba, Italy, Belgium, China, Canada and the United Nations have held get-togethers to mark Vietnam's traditional lunar New Year Festival (Tet).
*** At a meeting with Cuban friends and the Vietnamese community in Havana, Cuba, on February 9 in celebration of the Year of the Pig, Vietnamese Ambassador to Cuba Pham Tien Tu briefed participants on Vietnam's great achievements in all fields and congratulated Cuba on their socio-economic achievements over the past year.
The Cuban friends expressed their pleasure at Vietnam's great achievements in national development and wished Vietnamese people new victories in national construction.
*** The Vietnamese embassy in Italy celebrated the Tet festival on February 10. Vietnamese Ambassador to Italy Nguyen Van Nam stressed that the year 2006 marked a new step of development in Vietnam's relations with Italy and the Vatican encouraged by the historic meetings between Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi and Pope Benedict XVI.
At the meeting, many Vietnamese nationals in Italy expressed their delight at the success of Vietnam's renovation process and the great unity policy, and pledged to do their utmost to contribute to Vietnam's national development and fostering of Vietnam-Italy friendship.
*** Thousands of Vietnamese living in Belgium and Luxemburg and Belgian friends attended cultural activities in celebration of the traditional New Year held by the Vietnamese embassy in Brussels, Belgium on February 10.
Phan Thuy Thanh, Vietnamese Ambassador to Belgium and Luxemburg and chief delegate of the Vietnamese mission to the European Union was present at the event.
Belgian Minister of Development Cooperation Armande De Decker stressed that Vietnam, a country with a population of more than 80 million people, has obtained high economic growth and holds an important strategic position in Asia. He expressed his pleasure at the development of the two countries' multifaceted cooperation.
Participants also enjoyed a gong performance by the Tay Nguyen (Central Highlands) art troupe.
*** The Vietnamese embassy in China held a get-together in Beijing on February 10 for Vietnamese nationals in Beijing to mark the traditional lunar New Year festival of both Vietnam and China.
*** More than 250 representatives of overseas Vietnamese living in Canada, staff members of the Vietnamese embassy and other representative agencies of Vietnam and Vietnamese students in Canada attended a get-together hosted by the Vietnamese embassy at the Vietnam Cultural House in Ottawa.
*** Ambassador Le Luong Minh, Chief of the Vietnamese permanent delegation to the United Nations on February 10 held a reception on the occasion of the Vietnamese Tet.
