Monday, November 7, 2011

First Day of the State Visit to Vietnam *

The state visit to the Socialist Republic of Vietnam began today. Grand Duke Henri is the first Luxembourgish head of state to ever visit the country. The Grand Duke is accompanied by a delegation consisting of three ministers, members of the chamber of commerce, as well as about 30 businessmen whose companies are already active in Vietnam.

In the morning, Grand Duke Henri was welcomed with military honours at the presidential palace in Hanoi by Vietnam's president Truong Tan Sang. After being present at the signing of a "Memorandum of Understanding", the Grand Duke met the prime minister Nguyen Tan Dung, the president of the national assembly Nguyen Sinh Hung and the general secretary of the communist party Nguyen Phu Trong.

Afterwards the Grand Duke visited the rehabilitation center of the Bach Mai Hospital in the Vietnamese capital. Supported by 'Handicap International', the rehabilitation center helps people with spinal cord injuries whose number has increased dramatically in Vietnam in the past couple of years. The hospital was co-funded with about 1,75 million euros of Luxembourgish development aid.

The day ended with a state banquet given by the Vietnamese president.

Photo galleries of today's events can be found over at RTL, Wort and Tageblatt. Articles, which can also be regarded as the source of this post, are available at Tageblatt, Tageblatt, Wort, Wort, Le Quotidien, paperJam.lu, RTL, and Viet Nam News. The cour grand ducale, including a photo gallery, and the government also mention the visit. The first footage is now available on RTL, more can be seen in Luxembourg's daily news, starting at 23:02.Link

No comments:

Post a Comment