President Vo Van Thuong and German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier enjoy Jazz music

Working together for a close and lasting bond between the two countries

Speaking at the reception, President Vo Van Thuong emphasized that the German President's visit to Vietnam in the first month of the new year 2024 and on the eve of the traditional Tet holiday of the Vietnamese people, brings to Vietnam warm friendship and good faith in the bright future of the relationship between the two countries.

President Vo Van Thuong and his wife with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and his wife

The President said that Germany is known to the Vietnamese people as a leading developed country, one of the cradles of great humanistic ideas about human dignity and human liberation; a place where inventions lay the foundation for the development of human civilization; the German spirit and will have become a symbol of effort, overcoming pain and loss to move forward, as the poet and philosopher Friedrich Schiller wrote "the political kingdom is in turmoil, the spiritual kingdom continues to be built".

Emphasizing that the foundation of the friendly and cooperative relationship between Vietnam and Germany originated in the 1950s, the President said that the relationship has always been consolidated, strengthened and developed by many generations of leaders and people of the two countries.

"Since establishing the Strategic Partnership in 2011, Vietnam-Germany relations have made steady progress, achieved many important achievements, and are increasingly expanding in all fields," President Vo Van Thuong affirmed.

The President was pleased that the delegation accompanying the German President included a number of outstanding individuals from the Vietnamese community in Germany.

"I believe that the community of nearly 200,000 Vietnamese people living in Germany and hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese people studying and working in Germany who know German are an important force to further promote people-to-people exchange, friendship and understanding between the two countries," the President affirmed.

President Vo Van Thuong and his wife hosted a solemn reception for German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and his wife.

In the coming period, the President emphasized that Vietnam hopes to continue promoting effective cooperation with Germany in traditional fields and expanding cooperation in potential areas such as energy transition, green growth, circular economy, labor cooperation, etc.; joining hands to deepen the well-developed bilateral relationship, actively participating in solving common regional and global challenges in the spirit of Strategic Partnership, for a world of peace, stability, cooperation and development.

Quoting German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier's speech in 2022, "Connection does not come by itself, it must be acted upon. It is the result of people, of empathy, of responsibility and charity," President Vo Van Thuong pledged to work with the German President for a close and sustainable connection between the two countries, for the freedom and happiness of the people of the two countries.

"About 10,000 km apart but we are still very close"

In his speech at the reception, the German President stated that what connects Germans to Vietnam is the common past of the two countries. That is the foundation for the diversity and depth of the German-Vietnamese friendship.

"Although Germany and Vietnam are about 10,000 km apart, we are still very close to each other," the German President shared.

Trade flourished, investment was promoted, cultural, scientific and social exchanges took place vigorously, and no less important were political cooperation activities between the two States and peoples.

Sharing the same view with President Vo Van Thuong, the German President emphasized that the very important foundation in the relationship between the two countries is the close relationship between the two peoples, including 200,000 Vietnamese living and working in Germany and many of them speaking German. This is the factor, the glue, laying the foundation for political, economic and cultural cooperation between Germany and Vietnam.

Expressing his impression of the legend of the Kitchen Gods in Vietnam, which is only 10 days away, the Kitchen Gods will ride carp to heaven to report to the Jade Emperor, the German President shared that if he gets to meet the Kitchen Gods, he will ask them to convey to the Jade Emperor that he is very grateful for the close relationship between Vietnam and Germany.

"From our shared past, our two countries draw strength for the future, a shared future marked by trade and investment, the exchange of skilled labor, cooperation on global issues such as climate protection, and the promotion of respect for international law, multilateralism and peace," German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier affirmed.

Special Jazz Program for the German President and his wife

After the reception, President Vo Van Thuong and his wife invited German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and his wife to enjoy a Jazz program performed by the Vietnam National Academy of Music.

Vietnam's top talented Jazz artists performed 8 extremely diverse repertoires.

Vietnam’s top jazz artists performed 8 extremely diverse repertoires: from world-famous classics to simple Vietnamese folk songs; from the most typical romantic works of Vietnamese New Music in the 1950s to classical masterpieces by Beethoven and Johan Sebastian Bach…

Vietnamese jazz musicians also performed Paint It Black by the Rolling Stones, one of German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier's favorite songs.

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier enjoys Jazz performances by Vietnamese artists

The German president is a jazz fan, he hosted the 2019 Bonn Jazz Festival at the Villa Hammerschmidt and highlighted the historical importance of jazz for Germans.

At the same time, the German President also affirmed that Jazz was like the soundtrack to the new life of Germans after the war and believed that it was the melody of liberation, perhaps even of freedom.

President Vo Van Thuong and his wife, along with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and his wife, presented flowers to the artists.

President Frank-Walter Steinmeier once spoke enthusiastically about the very special connection between structure and freedom, concept and improvisation, rigor and improvisation in jazz.

Source link: https://thanhnien.vn/chu-tich-nuoc-vo-van-thuong-cung-tong-thong-duc-frank-walter-steinmeier-thuong-thuc-nhac-jazz-185240123233318883.htm