The ceremony themed “Celebrating People-to-People ties” was hosted by the Vietnam Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA), the Canadian Embassy to Vietnam, the Vietnam Union of Friendship Organizations (VUFO) and the Vietnam – Canada Friendship Association (VCFA) on December 13th, 2018 in Hanoi.
Canadian Ambassador Deborah Paul; Minister of Education and Training Phung Xuan Nha, Vice President in-charge, General Secretary of VUFO Don Tuan Phong, MOFA Minister Secretary, former Vietnamese Ambassador to Canada To Anh Dung, Canada-Vietnam alumni and Canadian community in Vietnam joined the event.
(right to left) Vice President Don Tuan Phong, Minister Phung Xuan Nha, Ambassador Deborah Paul, Ambassador To Anh Dung (photo: P.Y)
Ambassador Deborah Paul in the ceremony expressed her joy at the development of the bilateral ties. The dynamic Vietnamese-Canadians community is the representative and the steersmen of the ties, she said.
Canadian Ambassador Deborah Paul makes a speech.(photo: PY)
On this occasion, the Ambassador reviewed key milestones in the 45 years journey in the Vietnam – Canadian ties, namely achievements in poverty reduction aid, comprehensive governance support, and inclusive growth focusing on children and women empowerment. She also highlighted the importance of education cooperation in sustainable development.
“We all understand the importance of education. It is the center of prosperity at present and in the future,” she said, adding that Canada has always been facilitating Vietnamese students with prestigious scholarships.
According to the Ambassador, since the Canadian Francophone Scholarship Program was launched in 1987, there have been 126 Vietnamese recipients, including 6 this year. In 2017, 25 Vietnamese students were granted the SEED (a scholarship on poverty reduction in South East Asia), the largest number in ASEAN.
Dr. Dao Trong Tuyen, Vietnamese alumni of piano performance major in Montreal University (Canada) in his performance at the event (photo: PY)
Minister Phung Xuan Nha, for his part, reaffirmed the Ambassador’s point that education cooperation is one of the highlights of the bilateral ties, exemplified by the increasing number of Vietnamese students in Canada. By 2017, the number reached 14,000, making Vietnam the ASEAN country with the largest number of students in Canada and the 5th largest in the world.
Besides education, cultural exchange is another crucial platform for the stable development of the bilateral relations.
“The successful Vietnam Culture Week in Canada’s three major cities of Ottawa, Montreal and Toronto are indicative of the Comprehensive Partnership established in 2017 and promise to open up a new chapter in our cultural cooperation,” he noted. He expressed his confidence that the community of 250,000 Vietnamese people in Canada and Canadian businesses and citizens in Vietnam have been and will continue to be the catalyst of the ever strengthening and sustainable bilateral ties./.
