French National Day celebrated, essay contest award given

The French Consulate General in Ho Chi Minh City on Sunday evening celebrated its French National Day, also called Bastille Day, and gave an award to the first-prize winner in an essay contest held to mark the event.

Especially, for the 40th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between France and Vietnam, and within the framework of “The French Year in Vietnam”, the event is addressed by both sides, Fabrice Mauries, Consul General of France in HCMC, and Nguyen Thi Quyet Tam, Deputy Party Secretary of HCMC’s Communist Party cum President of the People's Council of HCMC.

“France is the 15th biggest foreign investor in HCMC with 152 projects worth some $852 million of registered capital as of May 2013,” Tam said.

“The presence of French Development Agency (AFD) office and the French Academy of the Far East (EFEO) center in the city early this year marked a milestone in the bilateral relations in development and culture,” she added.

“The two countries are getting closer to the target of becoming the strategic partner of each other following the recent official visit of Pham Binh Minh, Foreign Minister of Vietnam, to France,” said Tam.

The program finalized with an award ceremony of “I love France” essay contest jointly held by the French Consulate General in HCMC and newswire VnExpress.

The first prize, a HCMC-Paris roundtrip ticket and a 6-day trip to France’s capital city sponsored by Air France and Phoenix Voyages travel agency, was given to Nguyen Thai Hoa, a student at Le Havre university.

Born into an ordinary family in HCMC, Hoa said that he went to France to study and joined the contest by accident. As a high school student of the English language, Hoa determined to pursue higher education in the construction industry to fulfill his "French Dream".

At the event, with the presence of his father, Hoa transferred the prize to his father who wishes to visit Paris for once in his life.