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| Members of the executive committee for the next tenure (Photo: VNA) |
Representatives of the Vietnam Fatherland Front Central Committee, the State Committee for Overseas Vietnamese Affairs, and the Vietnamese embassies in 15 European countries also attended the event.
Speaking at the opening ceremony, Chairman of the Union Hoang Dinh Thang said that the congress was an occasion for the union to review its achievements and shortcomings in the first tenure in order to set up a work program for the second tenure, suitable with the current context, and elect enthusiastic, capable, reputable, and responsible candidates to the union’s executive committee and inspection board for the second tenure.
Speaking at the congress, Mr. Nguyen Van Thao, Vietnamese Ambassador to Belgium, Luxembourg and the EU, said that the relations between Vietnam and the EU are now at their prime, and the union will have a practical and effective action plan to tap into its abundant potential and resources, especially of young people, entrepreneurs and intellectuals, in order to help strengthen Vietnam’s cooperation with EU members and promote the homeland’s image as a responsible member of the international community.
Vietnamese Ambassador to the Czech Republic Thai Xuan Dung expressed his hope that the union will promote mutual support among its member associations so that overseas Vietnamese can assist one another in daily life and integration into local communities, uphold and bring into play Vietnam’s cultural identity, and contribute to the homeland.
Jan Zahradil, Vice Chairman of the European Parliament’s Committee on International Trade, held that the union’s second congress held in Prague during the tenure of the Czech Republic’s presidency of the EU would help highlight messages from the Vietnamese community in Europe.
At the event, the executive committee with 61 members was elected and Mr. Hoang Dinh Thang was re-elected as its chairman.
Established in 2016, the union has become the largest organization of Vietnamese people in Europe.
The second congress was initially expected to take place in October 2020 but delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic./.