Face masks are presented to the Overseas Vietnamese Association (Photo: VNA)
More than 15,000 face masks were presented to the Overseas Vietnamese Association, Vietnamese Student Association, France-Vietnam friendship association and France – Vietnam friendship parliamentarians’ group at the House of Representatives and Senate, French Communist Party, Town Halls in Paris, Montreuil and Choisy le Roi, and many other friends and local partners.
According to Vietnamese Ambassador to France Nguyen Thiep, the French friends were very touched by the solidarity and mutual spirit of Vietnamese people. The leader of L’Humanité newspaper expressed his excitement at receiving Vietnam's "first aid", affirming that this action will help bring the two nations closer together.
Ms. Stéphanie Do, Chairwoman of the friendship parliamentarians’ group at the French House of Representatives, thanked Vietnam for the timely support for the French people. She said that the government will quickly distribute medical face masks made in Vietnam to local elderly people.
Chairman of the Overseas Vietnamese Association in France Vuong Huu Nhan said that face masks are now extremely scarce items in France. Over the past time, the association has been trying to find sources of supply to distribute to elderly members or people infected with the disease.
Therefore, the support of the Embassy of Vietnam is a very meaningful and practical action, contributing to reducing the anxiety of overseas Vietnamese, because face masks will be mandatory items in many public places after France loosens blockade measures.
France is one of the Western European countries most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. As of May 7th, France had nearly 175,000 people infected with COVID-19 and nearly 26,000 deaths. It is expected that after May 11th, France will begin to loosen restrictive measures to resume socio-economic activities after 8 weeks of blockade nationwide./.