The Embassy of Vietnam and Overseas Vietnamese in the Netherlands have held a friendly get-together to celebrate Tet in the Year of the Dragon.

Ambassador to the Netherlands Huynh Minh Chinh briefed participants on the remarkable achievements made by Vietnam in 2011 in political, economic, cultural, social, security, defence and foreign relations.

2011 was a special year in Vietnamese-Dutch relations, marked by the success of the visit to Vietnam by Prince William Alexander and to the Netherlands by Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, which helped to deepen and bring bilateral ties to a new height, he said.

The Netherlands remains the largest European investor in Vietnam with 153 projects amounting to 5.6 billion USD and an important trading partner of the country with a trade value of 2.8 billion USD.

The Netherlands is also the second largest importer of Vietnamese products in Europe.

The diplomat affirmed that Overseas Vietnamese were an inseparable part of the nation, contributing to national development and served as a bridge between the Netherlands and Vietnam.

He spoke highly of the solidarity and good integration of Overseas Vietnamese in the Netherlands and thanked them for their assistance to Vietnamese Agent Orange/dioxin victims in 2011.

A get-together has also been held in Athens, Greece, to celebrate Tet. On this occasion, Ambassador to Greece Vu Binh spoke of the difficult economic situation in Greece while acknowledging Vietnamese assistance in maintaining jobs for Vietnamese and Greeks and contributing to Greece’s budget./.