On August 25-30, 2019, the 85^th World Library and Information Congress (WLIC) of  the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) has taken place in Athens, Greece. With the theme“Library: Dialogue for Change”, the congress gathered more than 3,300 delegates representing the library sector of over 130 countries around the world to participate in, attracted more than 500 presenters at 250 open sessions, nearly 200 poster presentations, 30 lighting talks and 20 satellite meetings on a variety of topics. Also during the congress, 11 key sessions were live streamed, providing opportunities to follow the world largest library forum for thousands of people all across the globe. The IFLA WLIC 2019 sessions focused on current and future issues of library development, contributing to clarify the congress theme: dialogue to exchange and learn, to offer opportunities for everyone to listen and to be listened.

Commemorating 50 years of implementing President Ho Chi Minh's Testament (1969-2019), with the consent of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (MoCST), on August 22, 2019, the National Library of Viet Nam (NLV) solemnly held the Documentary Exhibition entitled "50 years of implementing President Ho Chi Minh's Testament". Attending the exhibition were Ms. Trinh Thi Thuy - Member of Civil Affairs Committee, Deputy Minister of  the MoCST; Mr. Nguyen Duc Tai - Director of the Department of General Affairs, Officer of the Party Central Committee; Mr. Phung Minh Cuong - Deputy Permanent Secretary of the MoCST’s Party Committee; Mr. Nguyen Tuan Linh - Director General, Chairman of the MoCST's Trade Union; Mr. Pham Quoc Hung - Deputy Director of the Library Department, Mr. Nguyen Huu Gioi - President of Vietnamese Library Association; Ms. Kieu Thuy Nga - Director of the National Library of Viet Nam, together with leaders and representatives of agencies, boards, ministries and central branches in Ha Noi, libraries and information centers, news agencies, press and television, the public and readers.

On August 19, 2019, the National Library of Viet Nam (NLV) held the BooksGiftingCeremony to receive the book-set on "Bharat Ek Parichay - Sharing the world with the world" from the Embassy of India. Attending the ceremony were H.E Mr. Pranay Verma - Ambassador of India to Viet Nam, Mr. Nguyen Xuan Dung, Ms. Nguyen Ngoc Anh - Deputy Directors, andHead of the NLV’s Divisions, and officials and staffs from the Embassy and the Swami Vivekananda Cultural Center in Ha Noi. For many years, the Viet Nam -India relations has been growing more and more deeply, gaining many important achievements in many fields, especially in the fields of economics, national defense and security. In particular, in the field of culture, Viet Nam has always receivedthe support and funding from the Indian Government.Through cooperation and cultural exchange programs, many scholarships have been awardedto Vietnamese students and officials,aimingto improve human resources for the cultural sector in general and the library field in particular.

From May 16 - 17, 2019, in Paris, France, the National Library of France (NLF) collaborated with Paris Pedagogical University to organize the International Seminar themed“A portal between French-Vietnamese cultures: from Literature to Human Sciences”. Ms. Laurence Engel, President of the National Library of France and Mr. Marc Mézard, Director of Paris Pedagogical University have attended the seminar and delivered the opening speech. The seminar received attention and participation of scholars, researchers and experts from libraries, archives, research institutes, and universities of Viet Nam, France and the United States. Presentations at the seminar revolved around the theme of culture, literature and the human sciences of Viet Nam during the French colonial period, recreating a picture of French - Vietnamese cultural exchanges and interferences, specifically in the fields of bibliography, Viet Nam’s literature in national script and French language in this period. Through these studies, scientific recommendations have been made for content of the French - Vietnamese portal, expected to be launched in late 2019.

On the morning of May 13, 2019, the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Hungary in Viet Nam, Mr. Öry Csaba had a working visit and presented books to the National Library of Viet Nam (NLV). Ms. Kieu Thuy Nga, Director of the NLV welcomed the delegation. At the meeting, Ambassador Öry Csaba appreciated the good cooperation relations between Viet Nam and Hungary duringthe last years, especially in the field of culture, and hoped to further promote activities in this field. The Ambassador also emphasized on the plan to implement the activities to celebrate the 70th anniversary of establishing diplomatic relations between Viet Nam and Hungary in 2020, including two key activities that the Embassy expected to cooperate with the NLV to implement,that is to set up aLibrary in the Hungarian Cultural Center in Viet Nam,and organize an photos exhibition aboutHungarian Parliament building on the occasion of the high-level working visit of the Hungarian State leader to Viet Nam. Also within the framework of the working visit to the NLV, Ambassador Öry Csaba presented the NLVa collection of 28 books in Hungarian and English  about history of Hungary's provinces and cities written during the First World War, from the late nineteenth century to the beginning twentieth century...

Towards the 200^th anniversary of Peru's National Day (July 28, 1821) and 25 years of establishing diplomatic relations between Viet Nam and Peru (November 14, 1994 – November 14, 2019), on the morning of May 9, 2019, The Embassyof Peru co-operated with the National Library of Viet Nam (NLV)to organize the openingof the Exhibition “The beginning of a history”. Attending the exhibition were Mr. Tran Nhat Hoang - Deputy Director General of the International Cooperation Department, Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (MoCST); H.E.Mr. Augusto Morelli Salgado - Ambassador of the Republic of Peru in Viet Nam; Mrs. Kieu Thuy Nga - Director of the NLV, together with representatives of leaders of Departments and Institutes under the MoCST, Ambassadors, representatives of Embassies in Viet Nam, representatives of central and Ha Noi agencies, international organizations, libraries, press and television agencies, the public and readers.

From April 24-26, 2019, the annual meeting of the General Assembly of Francophone Digital Network (RFN-AISBL) took place in Ottawa, capital city of Canada with participation of more than 20 delegates representing 13 libraries and archives of the Francophone countries. Ms. Catherine Cano, the newly appointed General Director of the International Organisation of La Francophonie (OIF) attended and delivered the speech. At the meeting, the official recognition of full membership status for National Library of Benin, National Library of the Democratic Republic of Congo, National Library of Côte d'Ivoire, National Archives of Côte d'Ivoire was announced, bringing the total number of full members of RFN-AISBL to 19 libraries and archives. The meeting listened to executive board members reporting on the association's operation in 2018, and spent a lot of time discussing and working in groups to determine the action plan for period of 2019 – 2021...

Implementing the Prime Minister's Decision on Viet Nam Book Day and the guidance of the Leaders of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (MoCST), on April 19, 2019 the National Library of Viet Nam (NLV) and agencies of ministries, sectors, libraries, schools, international organizations, enterprises...launched the Book Festival 2019. With the theme“Books - Connecting knowledge & development”, the Book Festival this year continuedto be held to honor the value of books, affirm the important role of books in social life, contributeto raisepublicawareness about theimportance of reading for acquiringknowledge and skills, developing thinking, educating, training and fostering human dignity.The Book Festival 2019has brought aboutmany meaningful activities, such as: The documentary exhibition“Books - Connecting Knowledge andDevelopment”; Authors, literary works exchange; Painting through book contest; Storytelling contest in Vietnamese; Storytelling contestin English; Authors, literary works Identity contest…

In response to Viet Nam Book Day April 21^st, the World Book and Copy Right Day April 23^rd, the National Library of Viet Nam (NLV) has implemented the plan for 2019 Book Festival entitled “Books-Connecting Knowledge and Development”, with the aim to honor the value of books, affirm the role and importance of books in social life, encourage and promote the reading movement, contributing to building the reading culture in Viet Nam…. Within the framework of the festival, beside activities organized at the library headquarter, the NLV has actively and positively contacted and sought funding, called books donation for municipal/provincial libraries, district and commune libraries, and ethnic people in the highlands and remote areas, especially soldiers safeguarding the airspace, the islands and the borders of the country.

On February 27, 2019, in Ho Chi Minh City, the National Library of Viet Nam (NLV) organized a symposium to continue exchange, discuss and receive comments of library and information agencies and experts in the Southern region for the 2nd draft of the National Standard “Information and Documentation: Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) in libraries”. This is the second symposium, before that, the first one was held in Ha Noi on December 28, 2018 by the NLV. The symposium has received many positive exchanging ideas and discussions of scientists, managers and experts in the field of library, information and standards. Participants of the symposium have agreed on the neccessity to research and develop the national standard for radio frequency identification (RFID) in libraries in the context of information technology is constantly changing, developing rapidly and impacting strongly on all sectors and fields of activities, including the library field. The comments at the symposium focused on contributing ideas to continue to improve the standard, such as unifying the use of some terms in the standard, Vietnameseization in translating to ensure the scientific, clarity, easy to understand and use; Consult and update the latest version of ISO 28560-2:2018 Information and  documentation – Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) in libraries – Part 2: Encoding of RFID data elements based on rules from ISO/IEC 15962; Continue to develop national standards in the field of library activities...