The Vietnam-Armenia Friendship Association (VAFA) made its debut on May24, creating a foundation for people-to-people diplomacy between the twocountries.

The association was introduced during a congress inHanoi, which saw the participation of Vice President of the VietnamUnion of Friendship Organisations (VUFO) Nguyen Thi Hoang Van, DeputyForeign Minister and head of the State Committee for Overseas VietnameseAffairs Nguyen Thanh Son, and Armenian Ambassador to Vietnam RaisaGareginovna.

In her speech at the event, Van said the formationof the association marks an important milestone in the relations betweenthe two countries’ people and contributes to implementing theVietnamese Party and State’s policy on people-to-people diplomacy.

Inthe coming time, the association will focus on establishing apartnership network on the basis of its current relations, while seekingand expanding links with new partners in Armenia, such as publicorganisations, enterprises, education and research institutions anduniversities, Van said.

She added that the VAFA will also payattention to promoting foreign communication works to take advantage ofsolidarity and support for Vietnam in national defence, construction anddevelopment.

Ambassador Raisa expressed her belief that VAFAwill make great contributions to setting direct ties in human resourcesdevelopment, trade and economic cooperation as well as boostingfriendship and exchanges between the two peoples.

She also affirmed that her agency will do its utmost to further push the traditional friendship between her country and Vietnam.-VNA