The programme represented the deep sentiments of overseas Vietnamese students in the UK towards their homeland in general and the capital city of Hanoi in particular, he said, adding that it also offered a chance to promote the image of Vietnam to UK and international friends.

On the occasion, Ambassador Hoan and VSA President Nguyen Minh Triet presented the “Student of the Year 2010” award to eight Vietnamese students who have scored outstanding academic achievements as well as made great contributions to the VSA’s activities.

The website at www.hoian-tourism.com as collaboration between Hoi An City and the VnV Technology ST Company would introduce the various aspects including natural beauty spots and tourism activities there in the three languages of Vietnamese, English and Japanese.

Truong Van Bay, vice chairman of Hoi An People’s Committee, said the launch of the website would be helpful for the ancient city where tourism and commerce accounts for up to 64% of its GDP.

The little city has 84 hotels with 3,000 rooms for international tourists, he said that.

After the opening of the fair, hundreds of visitors, including local people and foreign ambassadors, called on the Vietnamese stand and tasted the food. They especially favoured such dishes as chicken and beef noodle soup (pho), spring rolls, and pickled vegetable.

The fair, which took placed in the capital city of Abu Dhabi on March 13, was attended by the embassies of Australia, Bangladesh, Brunei, China, Indonesia, Japan, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Nepal, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.

The Vietnamese stand, decorated with flags, flowers and paintings of the country’s land and people, displayed a wide variety of traditional Vietnamese dishes that characterize the country’s national identity.

Visitors to the fair were overheard raving about the Vietnamese dishes. They were aware of Vietnam’s long history of heroic struggle for national independence and construction, but they didn’t realize that in addition to being good at fighting off invaders, the Vietnamese could also create such delicious food.

They were also surprised as Vietnamese Ambassador in the UAE Nguyen Quang Khai revealed at the end of the fair that the dishes they tasted were not cooked by professional chefs but by the wives of the embassy’s staff.

A reporter from the local Khleej Times, Anwar Ahmad, remarked that the Vietnamese cuisine stand attracted the most visitors at the fair. “If Vietnam opens restaurants in UAE cities, it will lure a lot of customers,” he said.

The Melenium Hotel in Abu Dhabi has invited the Vietnamese embassy to join it in holding a seminar to promote Vietnamese food.