Czech Republic honors ethnic Vietnamese citizen

Tan was among 67 citizens honored at a ceremony hosted by Czech President Milos Zeman at the Prague Castle on Monday, Vietnam News Agency reported.

Zeman presented state decorations awarded in 2020 and 2021 to the most outstanding Czechs in many different fields.

The ceremony is usually held on October 28 every year, on the occasion of the "Independent Czechoslovak State Day."

However, it was not held for two years because of the Covid-19 pandemic being at its peak, the Prague Morning newspaper said.

Trinh Tan (L) donates masks in Ostrava to aid the Covid-19 fight in 2020. Photo by Vietnam News Agency

Tan won the Order of Merit for his service to the Czech Republic.

He was recognized for his active contributions to strengthening the relationship between the people of Czechia and Vietnam in North Morava Province as well as the relationship between the two countries.

Tan is president of the Vietnamese Association of North Morava and Ostrava, and a member of the Council of Ethnic Minorities of North Morava and Ostrava city (Moravskoslezský kraj) in the northeast of Czechia.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, Tan played an important role among Vietnamese community in organizing the production of tens of thousands of protective masks and gloves to donate to hospitals, nursing homes and social service facilities in Czechia, apart from financial support.

Tan is native of Quynh Phu District in Vietnam's northern Thai Binh Province. He graduated as an mining engineer from the Technical University of Ostrava in Czechia.

Tan said he wished to see Vietnamese representatives in the Council of Ethnic Minorities in every province and city across the Czech Republic, and to have second and third generations of Vietnamese people increasingly integrated into the local community.

Another wish is that quality Vietnamese language education develops well across the country, he said.

There are more than 7,000 Vietnamese people in North Morava Province, the third largest ethnic group after the Poles and Slovakians.