Ambassador Nguyen Thi Bich Hue at the virtual event (Photo: VNA) At the event, Vietnamese Ambassador to Italy Nguyen Thi Bich Hue extended the best New Year wishes to the Vietnamese community in Italy and Cyprus and expressed her gratitude for their support to the homeland over the past time. The ambassador said that despite complex developments of the COVID-19 pandemic, Vietnamese culture has been popularised in Italy. According to her, September 8 has been chosen to honour the mother tongue among overseas Vietnamese and many people attend Vietnamese language classes in Italy. With efforts of the Vietnamese Embassy in all fields, particularly citizen protection work, hundreds of Vietnamese in Italy and Cyprus were safely repatriated home amid the ongoing pandemic. At the event, musical performances were also held, especially ‘cheo’ - a form of Vietnamese traditional stage art and ‘quan ho’ love duet singing, together with Vietnamese poems ‘Truyen Kieu’ (the Tale of Kieu) recited by young Italians./.