On November 5, the People's Committee of An Giang province held the opening ceremony of the 17th Khmer Ethnic Culture, Sports and Tourism Festival in 2025 in Go Quao commune.
Speaking at the opening of the Festival, Vice Chairman of An Giang Provincial People's Committee - Le Trung Ho said: The Festival is a traditional cultural activity of great and practical significance to preserve, honor and promote the traditional cultural identity, caring for the spiritual life of the Khmer people in the province.
The festival is also an opportunity for ethnic minorities in general and the Khmer people in the South in particular to raise their sense of responsibility for traditional culture, strengthen the strength of the great national unity bloc, contribute to socio-economic development, strengthen national defense and security, ensure the successful implementation of the targets and tasks set by the Resolutions of the Party Congresses at all levels.
Through the activities of the Festival, it aims to honor, promote and introduce the cultural values of the Khmer people in the province to people across the country, so that people of all ethnic groups have the opportunity to meet, exchange, participate in cultural, artistic, physical education and sports activities; create solidarity and cohesion between ethnic groups inside and outside the province.
Thereby, promoting the image of the local Cultural Festival to tourists inside and outside the province; creating conditions to promote socio-economic development, taking better care of the material and spiritual life of the people, so that the Khmer people and the whole country can enter a new era, an era of national growth.
The festival takes place from November 4 to 6, 2025 (the 15th to the 17th of the 9th lunar month), on the occasion of the Ok Om Bok Festival - A major festival of the year for the Khmer people in the Southern region.
In particular, the highlight of the Festival is the traditional ngo boat racing - the soul of the festival, gathering the participation of many teams to compete together.
Ms. Thi Thanh, a resident of An Giang province, said: Everyone here loves watching the Ngo boat race, because it is very exciting. The teams competed fiercely on the river, the boats were only a small distance away from each other, so the audience was excited and nervous.
Mr. Tran Van Tam, a resident of Can Tho province, said: "In Can Tho, there are also ngo boat races, but my group of friends and I are traveling to An Giang and are ready to participate in the festival. The audience cheered enthusiastically, the teams were very determined, everyone tried their best to win and they showed great team spirit. I see this Festival as a highlight of my trip, the extremely bustling atmosphere makes me excited to follow.
It is expected that the Festival's activities will attract about 200,000 - 250,000 people from inside and outside the province to attend. With many rich and exciting activities taking place at the same time. Thereby meeting the material and spiritual needs of the Khmer people in particular and the people in general.
