The Vietnamese Embassy in the United States organised an online event on February 5 for the Overseas Vietnamese (OV) community to celebrate the start of the traditional Lunar New Year festival (Tet).

Vietnamese Ambassador to the US Ha Kim Ngoc and his wife
Nguyen Phuong Lien at the event (Photo: VNA)

This marks the first time that the Vietnamese Embassy in the US has hosted an online programme, attracting the participation of Vietnamese people from over 30 locations, ranging from Hanoi to different states throughout the US.

More than 200 guests from the OV community based in the US, including various Vietnamese intellectuals and businessmen, along with representatives from various Vietnamese associations and agencies in the US, plus international friends attended the event.

On behalf of the Vietnamese Party and State, Vietnamese Ambassador to the US Ha Kim Ngoc extended his Lunar New Year greetings to members of the OV community and international friends. He noted that despite the COVID-19 challenges in 2020, Vietnam successfully contained the epidemic, maintained  constant economic development, and ensured citizen protection and effective support for the OV community abroad.

Vietnamese representative agencies in the US have been strictly co-ordinating efforts to arrange flights aimed at repatriating Vietnamese people, while also mobilising the local government in order to ensure security, safety, and the legitimate rights of Vietnamese citizens in the US, said the diplomat.

He singled out the OV community in the US for their great efforts to overcome the challenges faced in recent times, uniting with their respective local communities in order to battle against the epidemic.

Ambassador Ngoc affirmed that the achievements recorded in mutual relations can be attributed to the valuable contributions made by the OV community, along with the close co-operation of US and international friends.

During the event, US Ambassador Kenneth Quinn extended lunar New Year greetings to Vietnamese people and expressed his belief that joint ties between the US and Vietnam will soon reach new heights. Business representatives expressed their hope that Vietnamese people will soon overcome this challenging period and achieve higher growth in 2021.