HA NOI (VNS)— Poet Nguyen Quang Thieu, vice chairman of the Vietnamese Writers Association, was elected Vice Secretary General of the Association of Afro-Asiatic Writers at its congress in Cairo earlier this week.

The congress discussed the mission of literature to honour cultural and spiritual values of the peoples of Asia and Africa, while promoting mutual understanding and solidarity between the peoples of the two continents.

The congress also elected an Indian writer as the new chairman of the association and an Egyptian writer as secretary general. Two vice secretary generals were elected to represent the two continents.

Thieu was born in 1957 in Ha Noi. He is best known for his modern poetry collections that have been translated into many languages. At the congress, his suggestion to republish the association's Lotus Magazine in Africa and Asia was approved.-VNS