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| Ambassador Phan Chi Thanh inspects the Vietnam town project in Thailand (Photo: VNA) |
More than 60,000 people of Vietnamese origin are now living in Udon Thani province, where President Ho Chi Minh once lived in the 1920s.
The Vietnam Town is expected to become a cultural center of Vietnamese people in Thailand's northeastern region, and a place to keep the traditions and culture of the Vietnamese community as well as a tourist attraction.
The project has received strong support from the local administration, which decided to invest 3 million THB (nearly 86,000 USD) in building and upgrading the infrastructure system of the town.
Ambassador Thanh and Udon Thani city Mayor Thanadorn Phuttharaksa, who visited the construction site in Alley 2, Si Suk Street of Udon Thani City, discussed measures to speed up the progress of the project.
The Vietnamese Ambassador thanked Mayor Thanadorn and the administration of Udon Thani city for their support to the Vietnamese community, as well as the investment in the project. He described the project as a symbol of the friendship and warm sentiments that Thai and Vietnamese people give each other, as well as the traditional bilateral ties.
According to the Ambassador, Thani will be the first city in the world that has a Vietnam Town.
For his part, Mayor Thanadorn highly valued the traditional beauty of Vietnamese people, which has been maintained among the Vietnamese community in Udon Thani.
He affirmed that the local administration will complete the upgrade of roads and pavements of the town in two months, and finish the decoration within this year.
According to Mr. Thanadorn, the city will also coordinate with the Vietnamese Thai Association in the province to implement the project, including the building of food stalls and souvenir shops, thus attracting visitors.
During his stay in Udon Thani, Ambassador Thanh also discussed with local administration and leaders of Udon Thani Rajabhat University the implementation of some projects to preserve and promote Vietnamese culture in the locality, including the building of a Vietnamese Culture Centre in the city and the setting up of a faculty of Vietnamese studies at the university./.