Dec 19,2016
The General Consulate of Japan honors Pro-Dr. Tong Xuan Vo
The representative office of the Consul of Japan in Ho Chi Minh City made a certificate-awarding ceremony to cite and honor Pro-Dr. Tong Xuan Vo of the General Consulate of Japan in Ho Chi Minh City for his significant contributions in order to enhance the friendship and deep understanding between Vietnam and Japan.
The ceremony took place in a cozy and friendly atmosphere in the private official residence of the General Consul (150, Nguyen Dinh Chieu, District 3, HCM City) on November, 23rd. Attending to cheer for Pro. Xuan is Ambassador Vu Tu Nguyen- the manager of the Department of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Chanh Truc Pham, the former Deputy board of Central Economics.
Mr. Yakabe- Deputy General Consul of the General Consulate of Japan in HCM City, who expressed his view to claim the reasons, said: “This is a compliment of honor based on the factors of great contributions in an effort to urge the exchange, friendship between the two countries and the ones for the economic development, the engineering co-operation, and the international co-operation,…”
In particular, the Deputy General Consul emphasized: “Pro-Dr. Tong Xuan Vo, after having graduated from Kyushu University (Japan) in 1974 (just 34 years old at that time- he was born in 1940), returned to serve for teaching at Can Tho University. During that time, he was also in charge of the consulting position for international agencies such as: World Bank, Asian Development Bank, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Then, from 1997 to 1998, he was invited to Japan to do research by Kyoto University… After that, he continuously took charge of the position of rector at An Giang University, Tan Tao University and Nam Can Tho University.
Meanwhile, under the role of a rice expert, he co-operated with JICA in an effort to improve the agriculture production not only in Vietnam but also in other countries around the world. Particularly, Pro-Dr. Tong Xuan Vo was one of the characters who made great efforts to establish Vietnam- Japan Friendship Association in An Giang Province and made great contributions to urging the friendship, charity activities and the cultural exchange ones between Japan and Vietnam”.
In a brief speech before the certificate-rewarding part, Mr. Nakajima-The General Consul of Japan in HCM City, once again, affirmed the outstanding values of Pro-Dr. Tong Xuan Vo in promoting the economy, engineering co-operation, friendship between Vietnam and Japan after he graduated from Japan: “Being one of the pioneering character in researching into Vietnamese rice, Pr-Dr. Xuan has not only made great contributions to making the Mekong Delta become the zone of producing rice on the top of the world, but he has also made great efforts to help many countries around the world to develop to cultivate water rice, aiming at self-control of rice to escape from the poverty sustainably, and was given compliments as “Mr. Rice” by the world community, and in 1993, Pro. Xuan received the Ramon Magsaysay award. Then, in 2002, he was awarded with the prize of Asian Nikei”.
Mr. Nakajima also emphasized: “Not only making great contributions to make Vietnam- Japan Friendship Association become the most active unit within the country, in half of this year, under the impact of climate change, there were serious droughts and saline intrusions…, the Japanese Government spent a certain amount of supportive expense in order to help Vietnam to deal with this big trouble, and at the same time, strongly believed that Pro-Dr. Tong Xuan Vo would continue setting up effective strategies to overcome the damage which was caused by the droughts and saline intrusions”.
The Consul also hoped that, in the next time, Dr. Xuan would make his best efforts to contribute to the common development of Vietnam, especially HCM City and the Mekong Delta, as well as to boost the relationship between Vietnam and Japan up to a new level.
With his speech of good-bye, Pro-Dr. Tong Xuan Vo also thought that what he had done during the previous time was only a piece of sand in the community of Vietnam. The today reward will be a significant motivation for him to continuously bring into play the achievements, making Vietnam a rich and stunning place, and the relationship between Vietnam and Japan more friendly, co-operative and sustainable.
