Vietnamese values help me overcome difficulties
Ms. Aurélia Nguyen, Chief Program Strategy Officer at the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI) and former Managing Director of COVAX Facility, is one of the overseas Vietnamese delegates returning to Vietnam to attend the Homeland Spring Program 2023. She is also one of the nine typical overseas Vietnamese to receive the Vietnam Fatherland Front Central Committee’s Certificate of Merit for her contribution to the overseas Vietnamese affairs and building and strengthening of the great national unity.
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Ms. Aurélia Nguyen, GAVI's Chief Program Strategy Officer and former Managing Director of COVAX Facility |
Ms. Aurélia Nguyen is a second generation Vietnamese, who was "brought up with very strong family values" and aware of the importance of caring for each other. “My father was born and raised in Ho Chi Minh City, then went to study in France. I have so many things to thank my father and ancestors who gave me my Vietnamese heritage. My father taught me the value of hard-working spirit, worldview, faith, and solidarity because a community is stronger than an individual. The past three years have been the most difficult but the most memorable period of my life when I had to deal with a pandemic that we will never forget. This was also an opportunity for me to re-evaluate the Vietnamese values that I believe to have helped me carry out the largest vaccination campaign in the world,” said Ms. Aurélia Nguyen.
Expressing her delight at the homeland’s successful control of the COVID-19 pandemic, Ms. Aurélia Nguyen emphasized that while the pandemic affected all the world, Vietnam had become an example of how to carry out such a large public health campaign. “I witnessed firsthand the appalling effects of the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe. Although the number of COVID-19 infection cases in the 2021-2022 period increased, the Government of Vietnam deserved praise for doing its best to ensure safety for the community. In August 2021, only 7.5% of Vietnamese adults were vaccinated against COVID-19, but after only five months, this rate increased to nearly 100%. Up to now, 90% of Vietnamese people, including 100% of health workers and 99% of the elderly have received enough basic doses of COVID-19 vaccine. This is an amazing achievement,” Aurélia Nguyen said.
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Leaders of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and agencies and overseas Vietnamese posing for a joint photo on a flower street. |
Therefore, being able to help Vietnam in its COVID-19 vaccination efforts to protect the public health is really meaningful to her. Receiving a warm welcome from everyone and feeling the Tet atmosphere in all the streets, Ms. Aurélia Nguyen sends best wishes to all Vietnamese people and hope that they will all enjoy a safe, healthy, warm, a peaceful new year.
Return to homeland to relive childhood’s Tet atmosphere
Phan Bich Thien, Vice President of the Association of the Vietnamese in Hungary, President of the Vietnam Women's Union in Hungary, and member of the ninth Central Committee of the Vietnam Fatherland Front, shared that the lunar New Year 2023 is a special occasion for her because she will be able to welcome the New Year’s Eve in Vietnam again after nearly 40 years away from the homeland. As a traditional Vietnamese woman, Ms. Thien always looks forward to the traditional Tet holiday. On the occasion, she prepares Tet dishes and burns incense to worship ancestors to help her children not forget their original traditions.
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Phan Bich Thien, Vice President of the Association of the Vietnamese in Hungary |
This year, Ms. Thien and her Hungarian husband returned to Vietnam to celebrate Tet. The couple visited Spring Flower Streets and Tet markets. She eagerly introduced her homeland’s scenic spots, typical culture, and cuisine to her husband. Although she has been living abroad for more than half of her life, she always feels the Vietnamese blood flowing in her body. For her, long foreign trips are just moments, and after all she returns to the homeland to relive the Tet atmosphere of her childhood and feel that she forever belongs to this land.
In a traditional ao dai (Vietnamese traditional long dress), walking on a flower street in the warm spring weather, Ms. Phan Bich Thien had mixed feelings. After the pandemic, many countries around the world are facing gloomy economic situation. In spite of many difficulties, Vietnam has been mentioned by the world media as a spotlight in maintaining economic development and growth in 2022. That is what made Ms. Phan Bich Thien feel proud.
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Dinh Vinh Cuong, President of the Vietnam-International Business Connection Club |
As the director of a logistics business with many years working in Japan, Mr. Dinh Vinh Cuong deeply understands the meticulous market of the land of cherry blossoms. As the President of the Vietnam-International Business Connection Club, he has actively promoted the connection between Vietnamese and foreign businesses and helped domestic enterprises to find export opportunities and foreign businesses to invest in the Vietnamese market. According to him, after two years of the pandemic, the economic recovery is showing positive signs. Notably, from the end of 2022, Japanese businesses tend to expand investment in Vietnam.
Attending the Homeland Spring Program 2023, in addition to welcoming Tet, he also had the opportunity to meet, exchange, and promote activities to connect domestic and foreign businesses.
Translated by Tran Hoai