Major publisher donates books to Vietnamese community in northeastern Thailand

Vietnam Education Publishing House held an event in Hanoi on Friday to donate Vietnamese-language books to the Vietnamese community in northeastern Thailand through the Consulate General of Vietnam in Khon Kaen.

The event was attended by Nguyen Manh Dong, vice chairman of the State Committee for Overseas Vietnamese Affairs (SCOVA); Dinh Hoang Linh, consul general of Vietnam in Khon Kaen; Dang Thanh Phuong, deputy head of the foreign affairs and overseas Vietnamese department under the Vietnam Fatherland Front Central Committee; Nguyen Thi Thanh Minh, deputy director of the international cooperation department under the Ministry of Education and Training; and chairman and general director of the Vietnam Education Publishing House (VEPH) Nguyen Tien Thanh.

Addressing the event, Thanh stated: "The book donation is not only significant in promoting the reading culture and enhancing the use of Vietnamese language among overseas Vietnamese, but also plays a role in fostering national pride, promoting cultural exchange activities, and introducing the image of Vietnam to the international community."

In nearly 70 years of establishment and development, the publishing house has consistently focused on and maintained community-oriented programs to bring tangible benefits to society. Its products have been associated with countless generations of students. It has worked to overcome numerous challenges to become a companion to students, teachers, and readers across the country, he said.

Consul general Linh reported that there are over 100,000 Vietnamese people living in 20 provinces in northeastern Thailand. The Vietnamese books from the VEPH are an invaluable gift in preserving the national language and culture.

He emphasized that in recent years, the publisher has provided Vietnamese books for the overseas Vietnamese community, as well as actively participated in the implementation of the project 'Vietnamese Language Day in the overseas Vietnamese community in the period 2023-2030' through collaboration with Vietnamese representative agencies abroad and SCOVA to donate 'Vietnamese Language Bookshelves' to many overseas Vietnamese communities worldwide.

This contributes to building a space for learning and reading Vietnamese within the community and plays an effective role in encouraging expats to learn and use Vietnamese, reflecting the deep love for the Vietnamese community abroad, he stressed.

During the event, leaders from the VEPH and the Consulate General of Vietnam in Khon Kaen discussed expanding cooperation to organize Vietnamese language teaching workshops in the region to preserve and promote the Vietnamese language and culture among the Vietnamese community in the 20 provinces in northeastern Thailand.

Earlier, starting in 2022, the SCOVA and the VEPH developed a plan to build "Vietnamese Language Bookshelves" for the Vietnamese community in many countries and territories.

In 2023, the bookshelves were donated to Vietnamese communities in several countries and territories, including Fukuoka (Japan), Budapest (Hungary), Taiwan (China), Paris (France), Prague and Brno (Czech).

In 2024, the initiative won the Second Prize in the category of Initiatives with Valuable Information for Foreign Affairs at the 10th National External Information Service Awards Ceremony.