Le Dung, the foreign ministry spokesperson, will head the Vietnamese general consulate in Houston, US.

The former spokesman of Vietnam Foreign Ministry has arrived in the US with other ministry officers to open another general consulate, of which he will be head.

The Vietnam government sees the move as another push to the economy, culture and education relations between the two countries.

As Texas is home to 85,000 Vietnamese, the second biggest Vietnamese community in the US after California, the new Vietnam consulate is expected to create a bridge between Texan overseas-Vietnamese with their homeland and protect the community, especially those who are maintaining kinship, trade or investment connections with people back in Vietnam.

Dung said he and other officers of the ministry are working hard to launch the consulate by the end of September.

Nguyen Phuong Nga, who has been working at the Press and Information Department under the ministry for 20 years, will replace Dung as the spokesperson for the ministry, according to a government statement reported by Tuoi Tre newspaper.

Nga, 46, graduated from Moscow International Relations University and used to work at Vietnam consulates in Thailand, Belgium and Luxembourg.

Source: VNA