Vietnamese Abroad Celebrate Lunar New Year

Overseas Vietnamese have celebrated the Lunar New Year (Tet), the biggest and most important festival of Vietnam, with various activities.

Rosy Huong

huongthhd@gmail.com January 24, 2022 | 08:01

Representatives of Vietnamese people in Mexico pose for a photo at the Tet celebration on January 22. Photo: VNA

On January 22, Vietnamese people in Russia, Israel, and Mexico marked the Lunar New Year with ceremonies organised by the embassies of Vietnam, VietnamPlus reported.

In Moscow, representatives of the Vietnamese community in Russia took part in the “Homeland Spring” prorgamme, held in Hanoi by the State Committee for Overseas Vietnamese (OV) Affairs and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, via videoconference.

Ambassador Dang Minh Khoi expressed his delight at the country’s success in the Covid-19 vaccination campaign, which has created new momentum for the country to enter a new year of hope and victory.

Vietnamese Abroad Celebrate Lunar New Year

Trinh Van Que, Chairman of the Vietnamese People Association in Ulyanovsk city, told the Vietnam News Agency that the annual Homeland Spring programme, specifically held for OVs to celebrate Tet, demonstrates the Party and State leaders’ consistent attention to the OV community.

He attributed the achievements in the pandemic combat to the strong directions by the Party, State, and Government, as well as the people’s consensus.

Also on January 22, Vietnamese people in Israel gathered to make “chung” cakes, a traditional food and also the most typical dish of Tet - the largest and most important festival in the homeland.

The event, organised by the Vietnamese Embassy, was also intended to strengthen the solidarity among the Vietnamese community in Israel.

At a Tet celebration the same day, Ambassador to Mexico Nguyen Hoanh Nam highlighted the significance of the festival along with the homeland’s attainments in economic, political, and social affairs.

He affirmed the Party and State’s policy of viewing the OVs as an integral part of the Vietnamese people. He also appreciated the expatriates’ contributions to the Covid-19 fight in Vietnam, calling on them to uphold solidarity, assist one another, adhere to the host country’s laws, and continue making dedication to the Vietnam - Mexico relations.

Thanking the Party and State for their sincere attention to OVs around the world, Chairman of the Vietnamese People Association in Mexico Nguyen Huu Dong said the Vietnamese community in the American nation always turn their hearts to the homeland, and that they will maintain their good academic and work performance and compliance with local laws so as to help promote images of the Vietnamese people in Mexico and reinforce bilateral relations.

On January 22, the Embassy in Kuala Lumpur hosted a gathering for Vietnamese people living in Malaysia, during which Ambassador Tran Viet Thai extended Tet greetings to the Vietnamese community.

He praised outstanding Vietnamese role models who have made great contributions to the community last year.

In a similar event in Algiers, Ambassador Nguyen Thanh Vinh said overseas Vietnamese people remain an inseparable part of the country. He highly spoke of the Vietnamese expats’ contributions to the homeland and valued their mutual support for each other during the pandemic.

A Tet get-together is held by the Embassy of Vietnam in Slovakia for Vietnamese expats on January 22. Photo: VNA

Another get-together was held by the Embassy of Vietnam in Slovakia in the capital city of Bratislava on the same day, which gathered a large number of Vietnamese expats and associations in the European country.

In his opening remarks, Ambassador Nguyen Tuan thanked the Vietnamese community for helping reinforcing the friendship between the two countries and developing Vietnam.

Meanwhile, Ambassador to the UK Nguyen Hoang Long attended a warm Tet gathering held for the first time by the Vietnamese Society in Oxford, bringing together Vietnamese students and PhD candidates as well as professors and lecturers from the University of Oxford.

Long said he expects the partnership in education and training between Vietnam and the University of Oxford will grow further, particularly in research./.

About 5.3 million Vietnamese are living and working in more than 130 countries and territories around the world, 80 percent of them in developed countries, and about 50 percent young expatriates.

The Vietnamese community abroad has shown good integration into the host society in all fields and become an important resource for the national development, according to Deputy Foreign Minister Pham Quang Hieu, who is head of the State Committee for OV Affairs.

Last year, despite Covid-19 impacts, the amount of remittances to Vietnam rose 10% over the previous year, getting closer to a new record of USD20 billion. Meanwhile, Vietnamese intellectuals abroad have actively contributed their brainpower to many important areas of the country.

Hieu underlined that amid Covid-19 pandemic, the Vietnamese community abroad has actively responded to the call of the Party, State and VFF leaders for support in pandemic fight.

In 2020-2021, the community donated about VND115 billion VND (USD5.05 million) as well as a lot of medical supplies to the homeland.

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Rosy Huong