The hand-over ceremony was attended by Marco de Niet, deputy director of the Leiden University Libraries; Marije Plomp, librarian for the South and Southeast Asian collection; Jonathan London, a lecturer at Leiden University; Ngo Lam, the person in charge of the collection on Vietnam; and a delegation of five officials of the Vietnam Film Institute (VFI), who are on a working trip to the Netherlands.
In her speech, Vietnamese Ambassador Ngo Thi Hoa expressed her belief that the book titles presented will work to enrich Leiden University’s documents on Vietnam in the early modern and modern periods, while providing Dutch and international students and scholars with an insight into the Vietnamese country, and its people and culture.
Ambassador Ngo Thi Hoa (R) presents a book on Vietnam to Marco de Niet, deputy director of the Leiden University Libraries.
The event is also part of the practical activities to mark 45 years of Vietnam-Netherlands diplomatic ties in 2018, she said.
For his part, Marco de Niet stated that the books on Vietnam were delivered to the Leiden University Library at the right time as its Asian Library has only recently been launched and the Vietnamese book space is in need of new materials.
The Leiden University Library has one of the world’s largest collections on Southeast Asia, with the collection of Vietnamese documents reaching three million artifacts, he said, adding that the new book titles on Vietnam presented by the Vietnamese embassy will be a good source of references for readers, helping to improve the understanding of international scholars and students regarding Vietnam and its relationships with the world.
In addition to the 41 books, Ambassador Ngo Thi Hoa and VFI Director Vu Nguyen Hung handed over five DVDs of Vietnamese films as supplements to the Vietnamese collection at the Leiden University Library.
After the book hand-over, the diplomat and VFI officials held a discussion with Dr. Jonathan London and officials of Leiden University and its Library about some of the lecturer’s recent studies on Vietnam, while listening to the recommendations from the Leiden side concerning activities to strengthen bilateral cooperation.
Accordingly, the two sides will work together to implement activities of the Vietnam Year 2019 at the Leiden Asia Centre. Ambassador Hoa voiced her support for the initiatives and pledged to join the Leiden University Library and the VFI in implementing those ideas at an appropriate time.
