Nguyen Van Khanh (L) receives the appointment decision. (Photo: VNA) At the ceremony, Ambassador Thach congratulated Khanh, and expressed his hope that with his devotion, capacity and prestige, Khanh will make contribution to consolidating and enhancing the traditional Ukraine – Vietnam friendship, as well as support the development of the Vietnamese people community in Odessa.
For his part, Khanh described the appointment as a great honour for him, and committed to doing his utmost to nurture the fruitful relations between the two countries and build a stable Vietnamese people community, bringing practical benefits to both nations.
Khanh, the former President of the Vietnamese people association in Odessa, was sent to the Ukraine province for further study in 1979, and has lived in the port city of Odessa since then.
In 2003, the Vietnamese community in Odessa was recognised as a minority ethnic group in Odessa, and Khanh contributed greatly to the result.
Governor of Odessa province awarded an honourable medal to Khanh for his devotion and contribution to the development of Odessa city and Ukraine as a whole in 2011. Four years later, he was named among the top ten doctors in the south of Ukraine. In 2017, Dumskaya, the largest newspaper in Odessa, selected Khanh as one of the five most influential foreigners in the city./.
VNA
