Attending the meeting were Mr. Vu Xuan Hong, President of the Vietnam Union of Friendship Organizations (VUFO); Mr. Vu Mao, VCFA’s Chairman; Mr. Nguyen Huy Quang, VLFA’s Vice Chairman; Mr. Somphone Sichaleune, Ambassador of Laos to Vietnam; Dien Bien Phu Campaign veterans and former Vietnamese veterans in Laos and Cambodia; Laotian and Cambodian students studying in Vietnam.
The meeting also saw the presence of the delegation of the Laos - Vietnam Friendship Association (LVFA) headed by Major General Phouvong Vong phom, Acting General Director of General Department of Logistics of Laotian Ministry of National Defense, member of the Executive Board of LVFA; and the delegation of the Cambodia –Vietnam Friendship Association, headed by General of the Army Chao Phally, Deputy Minister of State, Cambodian Ministry of National Defense, Vice Chairman the Cambodia - Vietnam Friendship Association (CVFA).
At the meeting, Colonel Dr. Tran Van Thuc, Vietnam Institute for Military History, reviewed Dien Bien Phu Victory and its significance for the revolutions of the three Indochinese countries.
Dien Bien Phu Victory was the greatest and the most glorious triumph by the entire Party, Army and people in the anti-French colonialist struggle (1945 – 1954), which forced France to sign the Geneve Agreement, ending the war in Indochina and opening a new phase for the revolutions of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, significantly contributing to the national liberation movement and starting the collapse of the old colonialism all over the world.
Colonel Thuc stressed that Dien Bien Phu Victory was the crystallization of patriotism, revolutionary spirit, strength of national solidarity, bravery and wisdom of Vietnamese people, indomitable and unyielding will, and strength of the entire nation; which was the victory of solidarity, loyalty of the peoples and armies of the three Indochinese countries.
General Chao Phally and General Phouvong Vong phom expressed their honors to participate in activities celebrating Dien Bien Phu Victory in Vietnam; affirmed that Dien Bien Phu Victory was the common pride of the three Indochinese countries, vividly reflected the solidarity, friendship and coalition between Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia in the war against the French colonialists.
“It is necessary to popularize experience lessons from the Dien Bien Phu Campaign to young generations of Indochinese countries”, said General Chao Phally, and that he himself and CVFA would help young Cambodians grasp the historic significance of Dien Bien Phu Victory, the strategy and tactics used by the Vietnam People’s Army during the resistance war for national independence and reunification.
General Phouvong Vong Phom emphasized that although it is 60 years since Dien Bien Phu Victory, the peoples of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia are touched with emotions in its anniversary. The world people always keep in mind the brave sacrifice of the Vietnamese people that led to Dien Bien Phu historic victory, crushing the will of invasion of the French colonialists in Indochina, encouraging peoples under colonialist domination to fight for their independence.
On the same day, the two delegations of LVFA and CVFA paid tribute to President Ho Chi Minh at his Mausoleum and General Vo Nguyen Giap at his private house, and visited the Thang Long Citadel.
