OVs in India celebrate Lunar New Year

Among distinguished guests were Indian diplomats, Ambassadors from ASEAN countries and representatives from Cuba, China, the US, Japan, and the Republic of Korea.

Vietnamese students, monks, and embassy staff kicked off the festivities with a series of entertaining traditional Vietnamese art performances, music and dance.

Attendees had ample opportunity to sample traditional Vietnamese cuisine including Chung cake (square-shape glutinous rice cake) and spring rolls made by Vietnamese women along with other delicacies and typical foods found on the Vietnamese Tet holiday menu.

Addressing the event, Vietnam Ambassador to India Nguyen Thanh Tan recounted the country’s achievements during the past year and expressed his hope that the country will further develop into the future.

He emphasised 2013 was a highly successful and productive year which saw the friendship and cooperative ties between the two countries continue to strengthen, as it has over the past 10 years.

He noted Vietnamese leaders paid various visits to India last year, including a State-level visit by the General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, and pointed out that the two countries signed eight cooperation agreements during their visits.

The Vietnam-India Inter-Governmental Committee convened its meeting in 2013, working out a host of cooperation programmes for the coming years.

Last year, the two countries strengthened cooperation in a variety of fields including trade and national defense, and two-way trade turnover reached US$5.1 billion, a year-on-year increase of US$1 billion.