Ambassador Tran Van Khoa speaking at the event (Photo: Vietnamese Embassy in Bangladesh)

Speaking at the launching ceremony, Vietnamese Ambassador to Bangladesh Tran Van Khoa emphasized that this is the first time a book about President Ho Chi Minh has been translated into Bengali and published for Bangladeshi readers.

This event has a great significance in introducing and honoring President Ho Chi Minh, helping Bangladeshi friends understand his life and work, as well as spreading President Ho Chi Minh's revolutionary ideas of peace, national independence, democracy and social progress to Bangladeshi friends, thereby, contributing to strengthening and further developing the traditional friendship between the two peoples.

The guests expressed their admiration and respect for President Ho Chi Minh, because he was not only a great leader of the people of Vietnam but also a great leader and culturalist of humanity, of the peoples in Asia, Africa and Latin America in the struggle against colonialism and imperialism.

For the Bangladeshi people, he passed on a revolutionary fire, resilient and indomitable spirit to Bangladeshi people in the struggle for national liberation of the country. Consequently, the guests and readers appreciated the publication of the book in Bengali and said that this was an opportunity for all classes of Bangladeshi people to directly read and feel the great thoughts and original values he left in the testament, as well as to better understand the country and people of Vietnam.

The translation and publication of this book are the result of close collaboration between the Vietnamese Embassy in Bangladesh and the Nawab Salimullah Institute, a non-governmental organization of Bangladesh, established in 1987 with the goal of strengthening the solidarity and friendship between the people of Bangladesh and the peoples of other countries through cooperative activities in the fields of culture, tourism, trade and education.

The idea of translating the book was raised at a seminar on the relations of the two countries in 2015.

The process of translating and publishing the book has also received positive support from Vietnamese agencies such as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the World Publishing House and the Ho Chi Minh Museum, about copyright and original photographic materials of President Ho Chi Minh.

In the framework of cooperation between the Embassy and Nawab Salimullah Institute, the two sides will continue to co-organize many activities, such as organizing conferences and painting exhibitions honoring President Ho Chi Minh on the occasion of the 45th anniversary of the establishment of Vietnam-Bangladesh diplomatic relations, in 2018.

These meaningful activities are the friendship bridge to enhance understanding and further tighten the sentiments between the two peoples, while deepening the traditional relationship between the two countries.

Immediately after the launching ceremony, on the occasion of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, the Vietnamese Embassy held a customary and Muslim banquet with traditional Bangladeshi dishes to thank guests./.

BL