President attends spring festival of ethnic groups

President Tran Dai Quang on February 4 attended the opening ceremony of the programme “Spring in Every Region Nationwide” at the Vietnam National Village for Ethnic Culture and Tourism in Hanoi.

Attendants at the event also included 200 ethnic minority people from 16 groups in 13 cities and provinces across the country as well as representatives of Overseas Vietnamese from 20 countries and territories worldwide.

President Tran Dai Quang attends spring festival of ethnic groups.

.In his remarks, President Quang extended his best wishes for a happy New Year to the participants, saying that whenever spring comes, Vietnamese people, no matter whether they live in different areas and regions or practise different beliefs and religions, always turn their hearts to their roots, the country and their families.

He stressed that promoting ethnic minority affairs and consolidating solidarity among ethnic groups have been identified by the Party as a strategic issue, noting with pleasure that after 30 years of the Renewal process, particularly since the 9th Party Central Committee issued a resolution on ethnic minority affairs in 2003, significant progress has been seen in mountainous areas while the solidarity among the groups has been reinforced.

He said that the programme is a good opportunity for the ethnic groups to introduce their achievements in safeguarding their indigenous cultures and advertising their festivals and customs to visitors while providing a venue for the groups to meet, share in the joy and convey their best wishes for happiness and prosperity for each other for the New Year.

He also highly appreciated the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the managing board of the Vietnam National Village for Ethnic Culture and Tourism for their efforts in making the village a common house of the 54 ethnic groups.

In 2016, the village welcomed thousands of ethnic minority representatives and more than 500,000 tourists and hosted dozens of festivals and events, contributing to nurturing and upholding the vitality of Vietnam’s traditional cultural values while opening up more opportunities to develop country’s tourism and culture.

The State leader expressed hope that ethnic groups would realise the Party and State’s guidelines on ethnic affairs more effectively and make more effort to preserve and promote their indigenous cultural beauty.

He also requested that ministries, sectors and localities continue providing support for ethnic groups in socio-economic development and encourage their participation in implementing ethnic minority policies.

At the opening, the President participated in con (a ball made of colourful piece of cloths) throwing—a traditional game of the Thai people from Dien Bien, and the group’s ritual to pray for health, peace and bumper crops.

(Source: NDO)