Vietnamese communities around the world celebrate Tet

Vietnamese in Mexico held a get-together to celebrate the traditional Tet (Lunar New Year) festival.

Speaking at the event arranged for overseas Vietnamese (OVs) in Mexico, Ambassador Nguyen Hoai Duong affirmed the Party and State always view OVs as an indispensable part of the nation.

The Vietnam-Mexico relations have been promoted in all fields, including politics, economy, trade, culture, education, and tourism, the diplomat noted, adding that bilateral trade will surge as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) takes effect.

Data from Mexico’s Office for Economic Affairs showed that two-way trade hit about 4.25 billion USD in last year’s January-November period, with Vietnam recording a surplus of 4.04 billion USD.

Meanwhile, the Embassy of Vietnam in Israel held a similar event in Tel Aviv on January 27, with the participation of more than 200 Vietnamese expats.

Ambassador Do Minh Hung said that the bilateral ties have expanded and become more effective. Israel is currently among Vietnam’s top partners in the Middle East in terms of economic and science-technology cooperation.

In 2018, the two countries held various activities to commemorate the 25th founding anniversary of diplomatic ties. Two-way trade also surpassed 1.2 billion USD last year as many of Vietnam’s staples – like seafood, cashew nuts, coffee, and garment-textile products – gained footholds in the Israeli market.

The bilateral free trade agreement is under negotiation and is expected to be inked shortly, in hope of lifting two-way trade to 3 billion USD.

The same day, OVs celebrated Tet during a gathering organised by the Vietnamese Embassy in the UK.

Ambassador Tran Ngoc An took the occasion to update OVs on Vietnam’s economic growth of 7.08 percent, the highest figure since 2008.

Vietnam and the UK launched many activities to bolster the strategic partnership and people-to-people exchange, marking 45 years of diplomatic ties, he noted.

The UK continued to be Vietnam’s leading trade-investment partner in Europe. Export-import values of the countries reached 6.2 billion USD in 2018, a year-on-year rise of over 10 percent.

Bilateral cooperation in education, culture, tourism, and defence-security also made strides. Vietnam attracted more than 300,000 tourists from the UK in the previous year.

The two sides have agreed and boosted exchanges to set up new mechanisms and cooperative frameworks, especially in trade-investment to ensure further development.

A meet up was also held for the Vietnamese community in India, with various traditional dishes served at the event.

In early January, Vietnamese Ambassador to India Pham Sanh Chau extended Tet wishes to Vietnamese people in Bhutan while presenting his credentials to the country.