During the week-long festival, delegates will pay tribute to President Ho Chi Minh at his mausoleum and visit the Presidential Palace in Hanoi. They will also visit the Birla Children’s Village, an orphanage that has provided care and education for the city’s children since 1987.
The delegates are also scheduled to tour the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho, where they will pay a courtesy visit to municipal leaders and go on trips to the Cai Rang floating market, the My Khanh tourist site and Truc Lam Zen Monastery.
In Ho Chi Minh City, they will pay a courtesy visit to the city’s leaders and tour Ben Thanh Market.
Addressing the opening ceremony, Vietnamese Minister of Science 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 favourable development momentum and strong resolve on the part of the leaders and peoples of the two countries, the bilateral friendship and cooperation would yield greater achievements, bringing pragmatic interests to both nations, for the sake of peace, stability, cooperation and prosperity in the region and the world at large.
The festival is taking place after Vietnam and India elevated their relationship to a comprehensive strategic partnership and are preparing for the Vietnam-India Friendship Year in 2017, which will mark the 45th anniversary of bilateral diplomatic ties and ten years of the strategic partnership, he said.
The official said he hoped the delegates would take the opportunity to review the solidarity, friendship and mutual support between Vietnamese and Indian peoples and propose measures to deepen the comprehensive strategic partnership in a more tangible fashion.
Lakshminarayanan Kannan MLA, Vice President of the All India Peace and Solidarity Organisation, affirmed India’s whole-hearted support for Vietnam’s revolutionary cause at international forums.
Vietnam is creating the best strategic opportunities for India’s “Act East” policy through the strategic partnership, he said.
The relationship should be enhanced at both bilateral and multilateral forums, especially exchanges between the two countries’ citizens, he said, noting his wish to promote Indian culture in Vietnam.
He used the occasion to affirm India’s solidarity with millions of Vietnamese Agent Orange (AO)/dioxin victims.
