Ho Chi Minh City authority yesterday kicked off a festival themed “Ho Chi Minh city – Development and Integration” in 2015 in Park 23-9 in district 1.
On behalf of the city leaders, speaking at the festival, Hua Ngoc Thuan, deputy chairman of the municipal People’s Committee, said that the festival is aimed to exchange international friends, it is an opporunity for Vietnamese and foreigners to showcase their cultural identities.
Mr. Thuan said that in the context that the Southeast Asian country is integrating with many nations in the globe, HCMC has established relation with many nations in the world and have commercial relation with 220 nations and territories. The city is also one of localities attracting many large FDI projects with total investment of US$39 billion.
International holidaymakers come to the city have increased year on year with 4.4 million in 2014. Over 300,000 foreigners are living, working and studying in the city who contributed much to the city’s growth.
The festival entailed a special art performance, a Vietnamese cooking contest, a costume contest and cultural pavilions featuring unique cultural and traditional products from 16 countries.
