VFF leader extends New Year greetings to Khmer community in Tra Vinh

Tra Vinh (VNA) – A delegation from the Vietnam Fatherland Front (VFF) Central Committee led by President Tran Thanh Man on April 9 visited the Mekong Delta province of Tra Vinh to extend greetings to Khmer people on the occasion of the Chol Chnam Thmay – the group’s traditional New Year.

The delegation visited and presented gifts to the Tra Vinh Patriotic Clergy Solidarity Association and veteran revolutionaries from the Khmer ethnic group.

Extending his best wishes to Khmer dignitaries and community on their traditional New Year, Man lauded their contributions to implementing the Party and State’s policy and law, as well as their active engagement in patriotic movements and campaigns launched by the VFF, thus fostering the great national solidarity bloc.

Most Venerable Sok Xane, Vice President of the Executive Council of the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha and head of the provincial Buddhist Sangha, thanked the Party and State’s attention and support to the Khmer community.

He affirmed that he will continue calling on the community to strengthen solidarity and promote the great national solidarity.

Chol Chnam Thmay is one of the most important festivals for Khmer people in Cambodia. It usually lasts three days and is celebrated mostly in pagodas. The festival is a demonstration of Khmer people’s aspirations, like many other ethnic groups, to move on from the previous year’s misfortunes and look forward to a promising new year. This year’s event will take place from April 14-16.

At a meeting with the VFF Committee of Tra Vinh the same day, Man hailed the achievements that Tra Vinh has made so far, especially in ensuring social security and poverty reduction.

Home to nearly 320,000 Khmer people, accounting for 32 percent of the province’s population, along with nine religions, Tra Vinh has successfully maintained political security and showed strong performance in ethnic and religious affairs.

He asked the locality to exert more efforts in improving locals’ living conditions, while strengthening the national solidarity bloc.

According to Deputy Secretary of the Tra Vinh People’s Committee Ngo Chi Cuong, last year, the province fulfilled and exceeded all targets for the year. Its economic growth reached 12.09 percent in 2017, the highest rise in the recent four years. The per capital income of locals was 39.1 million VND per year, while 30 out of 85 local communes were recognised as new-style rural areas.-VNA