HÀ NỘI — President Trần Đại Quang yesterday attended an opening ceremony to celebrate the cultural day of Vietnamese ethnic groups in Hà Nội. 

From 2009, the Government declared April 19 as the annual cultural day of 54 ethnic groups with the aim of honouring their cultural values, strengthening the great national unity, and promoting patriotism, he said. 
The President stressed the need to continuously implement effectively the Resolution adopted at the 9th session of the 11th Party Central Committee on the building and development of the Vietnamese culture and people to meet the country’s sustainable development requirements, as well as the cultural development strategy through 2020. 
He urged people to step up preserving, promoting cultural diversities and building new cultural values while expanding international exchanges. 
It was necessary to increase the public cultural enjoyment, especially in the rural, ethnic minority, remote, border and island regions, and integrate cultural preservation with sustainable development of economics and tourism, he noted. 
After the opening ceremony, an art programme took place, featuring the unique culture of 54 ethnic groups across the northern mountainous region, northern delta, central region, Central Highlands, and southern delta. 
Participants take part in folk games and enjoy food from different regions at the Culture and Tourism Village of Vietnamese Ethnic Groups from April 15-19. 
A variety of art forms are highlighted such as Lượn Cọi singing of Tày, Nùng ethnic groups, H’Mông panpipe and umbrella dancing, and Khơ Mú folk music, along with xẩm singing – a genre of music once popular in the north of Vietnam, chèo (Vietnamese traditional opera), and quan họ (love duet), chầu văn (spiritual singing), Central Highlands’ gong performance, and đờn ca tài tử (amateur singing) of southern people. 
Nearly 120 village patriarchs and artisans from various ethnic groups are engaging in cultural activities. — VNS