Saint Petersburg City honors Vietnamese people with special contributions to international cooperation

At the ceremony, Mr. Nguyen Quoc Hung was the only foreigner honored to receive the noble award from the Government of Saint Petersburg City, Russian Federation.

Governor of Saint Petersburg Alexander Beglov presented Mr. Nguyen Quoc Hung with the city's noble award.

On November 11, at the Smolny Palace in Saint Petersburg, within the framework of the Russian Federation State Prize Award Ceremony, Governor Alexander Beglov awarded the “Badge of Honor” - a noble award from the Saint Petersburg Government to Mr. Nguyen Quoc Hung, Director of the Russia-Vietnam Cooperation Development Fund “Tradition and Friendship” for his special contributions to the city's international cooperation.

Mr. Nguyen Quoc Hung is the only foreigner honored to receive this award. This is a personal award but shows the appreciation of the Saint Petersburg Foreign Affairs Committee and the City Government for the efforts of the “Tradition and Friendship” Fund and the Vietnamese community in the Russian Federation in people-to-people diplomacy towards developing mutually beneficial cooperation between Saint Petersburg and localities of Vietnam.

Mr. Nguyen Quoc Hung received the award at the Smolny Palace in Saint Petersburg.

Sharing his feelings with a reporter from Nhan Dan Newspaper based in Russia after receiving the award from the Saint Petersburg City Government, Mr. Nguyen Quoc Hung said he was very honored and moved to be present at the Smolny Palace to receive the city's noble award.

He himself directly saw the smiles of ethnic minority children from the remote mountainous province of Dien Bien in Vietnam who came to Saint Petersburg to visit, study and exchange, and saw the joy and warm happiness of Russian high school students when they came to Dien Bien province, hand in hand with Vietnamese children to explore new souls and new lands.

In particular, he saw a ray of hope in the eyes of cancer patients in Hanoi when he received advice from a Russian singer and doctor within the framework of practical activities of the first Vietnam-Russia People's Diplomatic Forum.

“At that time, I truly understood that together, working with all our hearts, we had truly done something good and useful for the people of the two countries and could put our faith in the future of the young generations of the two countries to continue the legacy and tradition of friendship and cooperation left by our ancestors,” Mr. Nguyen Quoc Hung shared.

Assessing the current cooperation between Saint Petersburg and Vietnam in general and Ho Chi Minh City (a sister city of Saint Petersburg) in particular, the Director of the “Tradition and Friendship” Fund affirmed that the decision of the Governor of Saint Petersburg to choose Vietnam as a priority direction in the city’s foreign policy has created a breakthrough in relations with Vietnamese localities.

The Saint Petersburg Foreign Affairs Committee has actively promoted cooperation between the two sides with important initiatives. Through the implementation of projects initiated by the Committee, with a full range of events, conferences, seminars, forums, and information exchanges between high-ranking delegations, businesses, and social organizations in all aspects of political, economic, and social life, cooperation between the two sides has achieved concrete and practical results.

Saint Petersburg has expanded the geography of twin cities, now not only Ho Chi Minh City, Khanh Hoa, Hai Phong but also Hanoi Capital and Dien Bien province have become new partner localities.

In Saint Petersburg, the square where the Ho Chi Minh Monument is located was named Ho Chi Minh Square, and in Dien Bien province, a street named Leningrad-Saint Petersburg appeared.

From September 30 to October 3 in Hanoi, Saint Petersburg city and the “Tradition and Friendship” Foundation coordinated with Vietnamese partners, the Vietnam Union of Friendship Organizations and the Vietnam-Russia Friendship Association to successfully organize the first Vietnam-Russia People's Diplomacy Forum with rich content in fields such as science, education, health, economy, trade, culture, and local cooperation. The forum, with many new initiatives and practical activities, breathed new life into the cooperation between the two sides, helping to put the cooperation between the two sides into practice, meeting the new requirements of the times.

It can be said that the cooperation between Saint Petersburg and Vietnamese localities has become a typical example, a model in the cooperative relationship between localities of the two countries.

Mr. Alexander Beglov, Governor of Saint Petersburg, speaks at the ceremony of awarding the State Prize of the Russian Federation.

Mentioning potential areas of cooperation that need to be further promoted in the coming time, Mr. Nguyen Quoc Hung said that Vietnam has deeply participated in the international capital market and the global value chain. The overall capacity of the economy will expand rapidly. The Russian Federation has been and is a powerful industrial, scientific and technological country, and a large and stable consumer market.

There is still much room and opportunity for cooperation between the two countries in various fields. Saint Petersburg has strengths in healthcare, education, digital economy, tourism, and science and technology. These are all important fields in which Vietnam is in dire need of breakthrough developments.

XUAN HUNG

People's Newspaper reporter based in Russia

Source: https://nhandan.vn/thanh-pho-saint-petersburg-vinh-danh-nguoi-viet-nam-co-dong-gop-dac-biet-trong-hop-tac-quoc-te-post922363.html