A hop, skip and a jump: Visitors to the 2015 Slovakia Bonsai and Tea Festival participated in a bamboo tree dance on Viet Nam Day. — Photo of Vietnamese Embassy in Slovakia

SLOVAKIA (VNS) — Viet Nam participated in the 2015 Bonsai and Tea Festival, which took place in the exhibition area Agrokomplex in Nitra, Slovakia, from April 16 to 19.

Viet Nam's coffee and tea booth was more spacious than last year's and decorated with a wide array of pictures of the country. The booth also showed a video clip about Vietnamese tea ceremonies, coffee production and bonsai trees.

Visiting the event Ho Dac Minh Nguyet, the Vietnamese ambassador in Slovakia, gave a talk on the nation's tea culture, the benefits of drinking coffee and tea, and the proper ways to prepare the drinks.

Nguyen Thanh Long, Vietnamese commerce counselor, also spoke about the country's tea and coffee production and trade.

The festival organising board decided to call Sunday Viet Nam Day. The Vietnamese embassy celebrated it on the main stage.

The organisers, the Vietnamese Trade Bureau in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, the agent of Trung Nguyen Coffee in the Czech Republic and Vietnamese expats in Slovakia, held various activities, including bamboo pole dancing, national dress performances and cooking traditional food.

Viet Nam's booth and Viet Nam Day attracted thousands of visitors during the four-day festival.

Viet Nam's third time participating in the Slovakia International Tea and Bonsai Festival is expected to enhance the two nations' cultural and economic co-operation as they celebrate 65 years of diplomatic relations in 2015.

The Slovakia Tea and Bonsai Festival is an annual international festival that showcases the national characteristics of the participants. — VNS