Son La: The Standing Board of the Ho Chi Minh Communist Young Union Committee of Son La province coordinated with local universities and colleges to hold a get-together on April 15 the occasion of Bunpimay - the traditional New Year festival of Laos. An art performance was organised as part of the event, aiming to help audience better understand the culture, fine traditions, and special close friendship between Vietnam and Laos. Participants at the event also had a chance to join in a water splashing ceremony and traditional folk games. Addressing the event, Vice Chairman of the provincial People's Committee Nguyen Thanh Cong extended New Year wishes to Lao students. He also highly appreciated the universities' efforts, including providing training and ensuring a decent living and learning environment for Lao students, thereby making an important contribution to the effective implementation of the comprehensive cooperation programme between Son La province and nine northern provinces of Laos on education and training of high quality human resources. On this occasion, the Department of Education and Training, and the provincial Study Encouragement Association awarded certificates of merit to 45 Lao students who had outstanding academic achievements and participated in local youth union activities. Since 2015, more than 3,000 Lao students have studied in Son La. After graduation, many of them have returned home and became key officials in government agencies, actively contributing to the development of their homeland./. Source: Vietnam News Agency