The traditional New Year of Laos, Cambodia, Thailand and Myanmar, Chol-chnam-Thmay was celebrated in Ho Chi Minh City on April 14.
Many diplomats, officials and students from the four Southeast Asian countries who are working and studying in Vietnam attended the event.
The festival, which is being held jointly by the Vietnam Union of Friendship Organisations (VUFO) and the Association for Liaison with Overseas Vietnamese (ALOV), aims to promote cultural exchanges and mutual understanding between Vietnam and its neighbours, as well as strengthen solidarity in the region towards building an ASEAN community by 2015.
The ongoing New Year festival in HCM City, called Chol-chnam-Thmay in Cambodia, Bun-pi-may in Laos, Thing Yang in Myanmar, and Trut-Songkran in Thailand, includes a variety of musical and dance performances as well as religious rituals representing the cultures of these nations.