Nearly 200 local officials, Vietnamese and French readers as well as representatives of Vietnamese and international news agencies were present at the opening ceremony of the festival, the first of its kind held abroad, which, a Vietnamese official said, marks a new advance in the integration and development of the Vietnamese communication sector in the international arena.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, Deputy Minister of Information and Communications Do Qui Doan said that the event provides an opportunity for the Vietnamese media to give a rundown on the country’s achievements in a foreign country.

The festival is also a meeting place for Vietnamese journalists and the public, including overseas Vietnamese and French readers, he added.

More than 500 newspapers, including Spring and Tet (Lunar New Year) editions, are on display on a 200m² campus, making a strong impression on the French audience and bringing in warm feelings on the homeland’s spring to overseas Vietnamese.

The Vietnamese community in France will also wallow in an atmosphere of the traditional Tet festival and other national spring festivals through documentary films to be screened during the nine-day festival.

The Spring Newspaper Festival is the first in the series of cultural activities to be held by the Vietnamese Embassy and the Vietnamese Cultural Centre in France this year in order to mark the 1,000th anniversary of Thang Long-Hanoi scheduled for October.