A performance at the festival (Source: VNA)During the week-long festival, delegates will pay tribute toPresident Ho Chi Minh at his mausoleum and visited the Presidential Palace inHanoi. They will also visit the Birla Children’s Village, an orphanage that hasprovided care and education for the city’s children since 1987.
The delegates are also scheduled to tour the Mekong Deltacity of Can Tho where they will pay a courtesy visit to the municipal leadersand go on trips to the Cai Rang floating market, the My Khanh tourist site andthe Truc Lam Zen Monastery.
In Ho Chi Minh City, they will pay a courtesy visit to thecity’s leaders and tour the Ben Thanh market.
Addressing the opening ceremony, Vietnamese Minister ofScience and Technology Chu Ngoc Anh highlighted the Vietnam-India relationship,which was founded by President Ho Chi Minh and Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru,and fostered by generations of Vietnamese leaders and people.
The minister expressed his belief that with a favourabledevelopment momentum and strong resolve of leaders and people of the twocountries, the bilateral friendship and cooperation will reap greaterachievements, bringing pragmatic interests for both nations, for the sake ofpeace, stability, cooperation and prosperity in the region and the world at large.
The festival takes place after Vietnam and India elevatedtheir relationship to a comprehensive strategic partnership and are preparingfor the Vietnam-India Friendship Year in 2017 which marks the 45th anniversary of bilateral diplomatic ties and ten years of the strategicpartnership, he said.
The official said he hopes the delegates will take theoccasion to review the solidarity, friendship and mutual support betweenVietnamese and Indian people, and propose measures to deepen the comprehensivestrategic partnership in a more tangible fashion.
Lakshminarayanan Kannan MLA, Vice President of the All IndiaPeace and Solidarity Organisation, reassured India’s whole-hearted support forVietnam’s revolutionary cause at international forums.
Vietnam is bringing about the best strategic opportunitiesfor India’s “Act East” policy through the strategic partnership, he said.
The relationship should be enhanced at both bilateral andmultilateral forums, especially exchanges between the two countries’ citizens,he said, noting his wish to promote Indian culture in Vietnam.
He used the occasion to affirmed India’s solidarity withmillions of Vietnamese Agent Orange (AO)/dioxin victims.-VNA
VNA
