Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnamese communities in Mexico, Israel, the UK, and Indiarecently held get-togethers to celebrate the traditional Tet (Lunar New Year)festival.

Speakingat the event arranged for overseas Vietnamese (OVs) in Mexico, AmbassadorNguyen Hoai Duong affirmed theParty and State always view OVs as an indispensable part of the nation.

The Vietnam-Mexico relations have been promotedin all fields, including politics, economy, trade, culture, education, andtourism, the diplomat noted, adding that bilateral trade will surge as theComprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP)takes effect.

Data from Mexico’s Office for Economic Affairs showed that two-way trade hit about 4.25 billion USD in lastyear’s January-November period, with Vietnam recording a surplus of 4.04billion USD.

Meanwhile, the Embassy of Vietnam in Israelheld a similar event in Tel Aviv on January 27, with the participation of morethan 200 Vietnamese expats.

Ambassador Do Minh Hung said that the bilateralties have expanded and become more effective. Israel is currently among Vietnam’stop partners in the Middle East in terms of economic and science-technology cooperation.

In 2018, the two countries held variousactivities to commemorate the 25th founding anniversary of diplomatic ties. Two-waytrade also surpassed 1.2 billion USD last year as many of Vietnam’s staples –like seafood, cashew nuts, coffee, and garment-textile products – gainedfootholds in the Israeli market.

The bilateral free trade agreement is undernegotiation and is expected to be inked shortly, in hope of lifting two-waytrade to 3 billion USD.

The same day, OVs celebrated Tet during agathering organised by the Vietnamese Embassy in the UK.

Ambassador Tran Ngoc An took the occasion toupdate OVs on Vietnam’s economic growth of 7.08 percent, the highest figure since2008.

Vietnam and the UK launched many activities tobolster the strategic partnership and people-to-people exchange, marking 45years of diplomatic ties, he noted.

The UK continued to be Vietnam’s leadingtrade-investment partner in Europe. Export-import values of the countriesreached 6.2 billion USD in 2018, a year-on-year rise of over 10 percent.

Bilateral cooperation in education, culture,tourism, and defence-security also made strides. Vietnam attracted more than300,000 tourists from the UK in the previous year.

The two sides have agreed and boosted exchangesto set up new mechanisms and cooperative frameworks, especially intrade-investment to ensure further development.

A meet up was also held for the Vietnamesecommunity in India, with various traditional dishes served at the event.

In early January, Vietnamese Ambassador to India Pham SanhChau extended Tet wishes to Vietnamese people in Bhutan while presenting hiscredentials to the country. –VNA