Belgium

At the celebration in Belgium (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) – The Vietnamese community in the Republic of Korea (RoK), Belgium, and Germany has been enabled to mark the biggest and long annual traditional event of their homeland – the Lunar New Year festival (Tet) – via associated visits and gatherings over the past few days. In the RoK , a delegation of the Vietnamese Embassy visited two families of Vietnamese women married to Korean men on the festive occasion. They are Do Thi Thanh Nga in Gyeonggi province, who has been part of her Korean family for 17 years; and Huynh Thi Thai, 74, in Seoul, one of the first Vietnamese women marrying Korean men since 1973. Chargé d'affaires Nguyen Viet Anh affirmed that the happiness and achievements that the two families have obtained is a vivid proof of the special "marriage relationship" between the nations. Chargé d'affaires Nguyen Viet Anh (R) presents a gift to a member of Do Thi Thanh Nga's family (Photo: VNA) He expressed his … [Read more...] about Vietnamese celebrate Tet overseas

Vietnamese Ambassador to Belgium Nguyen Van Thao speaks at the Lunar New Year ( Tet) celebration held by the Vietnamese Embassy and Vietnamese Association in Belgium. (Photo: VNA) Brussels (VNA) – Belgium ’s French-language television channel BX1 has broadcasted a reportage entitled "Vietnamese people celebrate Tet in Woluwe Saint-Pierre" about the Lunar New Year (Tet) that the Vietnamese Association in Belgium and the Vietnamese Embassy in Belgium organised on January 22 in Brussels. The reportage said that about 400 Vietnamese people attended the traditional Tet festival in Woluwe Saint-Pierre district where not only Vietnamese people but also Belgians said to each other “Chuc mung Nam moi” (Happy New Year). Visitors to the festival had a chance to enjoy Vietnamese traditional foods and fruits, particularly grapefruit - an indispensable fruit during Tet celebrations. The channel’s reporter introduced “banh mi” (Vietnamese bread) - a specialty whose name is … [Read more...] about Belgian television makes reportage on Vietnamese Lunar New Year celebration

EXHIBITION Hanoi-Exhibition “This is not A Dream” Exhibition: Until Mar 12, 10 am – 09 pm Vincom Center for Contemporary Art (VCCA), B1 – R3, Vincom Mega Mall Royal City, 72A Nguyen Trai, Thanh Xuan District From VCCA: Featuring nearly 100 classic works in digital versions of two great Surrealists Rene Magritte and Frida Kahlo. Rene Magritte (Belgium, 1898-1967) and Frida Kahlo (Mexican, 1907-1954) can be seen as the two extremes of Surrealism and the negative. If Frida – who always paints his own reality, Rene paints everyone’s reality – with a twist somewhere. Magritte’s works, from murals, magazine covers, to classics, are all aimed at an audience. To interact with the audience, Magritte is interested in creating puzzles, unknowns, and visual tricks. He wanted to paint the impossible as a form of realistic expression, thus free from coincidences and coincidences, which was the opposite of contemporary Surrealist painters. … [Read more...] about What’s on January 16-22/2023

Vietnamese Ambassador to the Netherlands Pham Viet Anh (fifth from the left, second row) takes group photo with Miss Linh's representatives. — VNA/VNS Photo Miss Linh, an e-commerce platform of Viet Nam Food Europe BV operating in the Dutch market, has presented Vietnamese eco-friendly products at Horecava 2023 in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. At the event, which was held last week, Miss Linh signed a contract with VI2CI company, one of the e-commerce platforms for agricultural products, electronic devices and fashion in Viet Nam. This is seen as an opportunity for Vietnamese agricultural products to penetrate the Dutch market. According to Vietnamese Ambassador to the Netherlands Pham Viet Anh, as the Netherlands is a gateway to Europe, it is easy for a product to enter other European countries once it is imported. More recently, Vietnamese litchi and longan were shipped to France and Belgium from the Netherlands and later transported to other countries, including those in … [Read more...] about Vietnamese organic products introduced to Dutch consumers

The lifting of restrictions coincides with a dramatic increase in infections and deaths due to the pandemic within the Chinese borders. In fact, official data showed infections last December to be the highest ever recorded for China since the start of the pandemic. Despite this, the World Health Organization thinks the risk of a new pandemic wave globally is minor, as the current COVID-19 variant in China apparently is a subtype of Omicron, for which most vaccines should be effective. Dr. Daniel Borer, Interim program manager of Global Business, RMIT Australia and Dr. Nuno F. Ribeiro, senior lecturer of Tourism and Hospitality, RMIT Vietnam Still, other experts warn that the virus could easily mutate within China into new variants, given that mass infections are expected to occur due to the massive travelling of the upcoming holidays. Currently, there is a lack of accurate and transparent data in China regarding infections and fatalities, making it unclear how dangerous … [Read more...] about Vietnam should act now to avoid pandemic resurgence

The sustainable cocoa supply chain at Puratos Grand-Place Indochina. — Photo courtesy of PGPI The unique-tasting and responsibly-sourced chocolate, 60 DAYS, is the first product of Puratos Grand - Place Indochina (PGPI) and the Puratos Group to get the Carbon Neutral certification by CO2logic, a Belgium company pioneering environmental advisory. 60DAYS Chocolate goes beyond industry standards. It aims to reinvent the chocolate process by combining fermentation in wooden acacia boxes with a slow roast method to create ‘tree to bar’ chocolate in 60 days. This process generates lower emissions. Customers benefit from a fresher and more flavorsome product, with low sugar content. To qualify for carbon-neutral certification, 60DAYS Chocolate met the requirements of the Carbon Neutral Product Standard from CO2logic, including calculations of emissions from-farm-to-chocolate. CO2logic evaluated the greenhouse gas emissions of all activities that produce 60DAYS with the following: … [Read more...] about PGPI’s 60DAYS chocolate gets Carbon Neutral certification

They could be scenes straight from gangster movies, except all happened for real in the French port of Le Havre over the past year. A drug gang smashing its way out of the port in a lorry loaded with cocaine under police fire; another criminal band storming a depot inside the tightly-controlled zone to grab a hidden shipment of the drug. And then there was the container cracked open in daytime traffic just outside the gates by a gang who set it on fire once they retrieved a cache of the white powder. "There is so much money to be made they do not think twice about taking big risks," a police officer in the Channel port told AFP. Le Havre is one of northern Europe's big five container ports. And its vast cargo terminals where the River Seine reaches the sea have become the main point of entry for cocaine into France. A record 10 tonnes of the drug were seized on its quays in 2021 -- up 164 percent on the previous year -- as a vast wave of cocaine has poured into Europe from … [Read more...] about Dockers killed, kidnapped and corrupted by drugs mafia

According to the General Statistics Office, Vietnam greeted more than 3.66 million international visitors in 2022 as many international flight routes were restored, more than 23.3 times higher than in 2021. In terms of revenue from accommodation and food services, in 2022, many localities saw a significant increase compared to 2021. These include Ba Ria-Vung Tau with a rise of 155.6 per cent, Khanh Hoa (151.1 per cent), Ho Chi Minh City (121.6 per cent), Can Tho (121.3 per cent), Lam Dong (118.4 per cent), Danang (83.5 per cent), Hanoi (80.4 per cent), and Quang Ninh (57.8 per cent). These positive results raised expectations for a strong tourism recovery during this year's Tet holiday. In order to stimulate the Tet tourism market, many localities and businesses have implemented international tourism promotion programmes and introduced interesting Tet-based tours to attract foreign tourists. Cao Anh Tuan, sales director of Paradise Vietnam Group, said that this Tet holiday, the … [Read more...] about Vietnam bustles with foreign tourists during Lunar New Year

Visitors to the January 14 event, including Vietnamese and French, were impressed with a show of the “ao dai” (a traditional costume of Vietnam), performances of the country’s martial art Vovinam, and traditional dishes, among others. The program also aimed to mark the 50th anniversary of the two countries’ diplomatic ties and 10 years since the establishment of the strategic partnership. Éric Pliez, Mayor of the 20th arrondissement of Paris, said he was delighted to attend the Tet celebration and witness the development of the APCV, one of the 3,000 associations operating in the arrondissement. Vietnamese Ambassador to France Dinh Toan Thang highly valued the APCV’s organization of the program, especially when Vietnam and France are marking 50 years of their diplomatic relations and 10 years of the strategic partnership in 2023. He said what the association has done to popularize and preserve the Vietnamese culture are highly encouraging, and that contribution by each people … [Read more...] about Tet celebration introduces Vietnamese culture in Paris

The Vietnamese cuisine is a delight. It takes some getting used to, now many will probably smile or laugh, like the popular fish sauce in Vietnam, which is not known in Belgium and the rest of Europe, I think, except in selected Vietnamese restaurants. With the chick embryo, or the worms, I would have scruples or the stupid western European disgust of the unknown. However, I am not entirely unworldly..., and I recognize I would be able to break through my world of thought and open myself to the previously foreign pleasure. Unfortunately, I have visited Vietnam only once so far. It has enchanted me and I would like to go back again. The people, the culture, the country, the love... To eat a small octopus completely was one of many firsts for me, in interesting sauces that do not exist in our country. Thank you very much for the contribution. To all readers who have not yet visited Vietnam, please, do not be stupid. Do not ask for the food you know from home. Be brave and there is … [Read more...] about To foreign tourists, be brave and ask for food you do not know from home