Festival promotes Vietnamese culture in London

The Vietnam Open Festival (VOF) featuring 40 stands introducing Vietnam’s unique culture, arts, costumes, cuisine and music got underway in London on June 23.
The two-day event was part of activities to mark the 40th anniversary of diplomatic ties between Vietnam and the United Kingdom (1973-2013).
The festival opened with Vietnamese girls in traditional Ao Dai (long dresses) performing a conical hat dance, followed by unicorn and flag dances.
Another highlight of the festival was an Ao Dai fashion show performed by UK and EU models.
In addition to providing an insight into Vietnam’s famous pottery and silk trademarks, visitors had an opportunity to taste delicious Vietnamese dishes.
They also visited the Friends of Vietnam Network (FVN) pavilion to voice support for Agent Orange/dioxin victims in Vietnam.
Lord Charles David Powell said the VOF along the Thames River is an excellent idea to help UK people understand more about Vietnamese culture.
Vietnam and the UK have raised their relationship to a strategic partnership, which sees positive developments in a wide range of fields from economics, trade and investment to education.
Vietnam welcome over 100,000 tourists from the UK every year, and sees an increasing number of UK companies investing in the nation.