Hosted by VUFO and VPDF, they have come from Algeria, Australia, Cambodia, China, Cuba, France, India, Italy, Japan, the DPR Korea, Laos, Russia, the United Kingdom, the United States of America, Venezuela, the Afro-Asian Peoples’ Solidarity Organization, the International Association of Democratic Lawyers, and the World Peace Council. Prominent in the French group were Hélène Luc, former Senator, Honorary President of the France-Vietnam Friendship Association; and Daniel Davisse, Mayor of the city of Choisy-le-Roi, where the delegation of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam stayed during the 1969-1973 Paris Conference.
The US group included William Ramsey Clark, Attorney General in 1967-1969; Rennie Davis, an anti-Vietnam war protest leader in the 1980s; Doug Hostetter, a conscientious objector who did alternative service in Vietnam in 1966-1969; and Thomas John Gumbleton, a retired bishop and founding president of Pax Christi USA in 1972, who has worked for years in support of Vietnamese Agent Orange victims. In Hanoi, the foreign visitors took part in the State ceremony honoring the Paris Agreement signing anniversary, an audience with State President Trương Tấn Sang, a tree planting outing at the Peace Park, and a TV program titled “Paris Agreement and Friendly Hearts”.
In HoChiMinh City, they had a roundtable with persons having been at the Paris Conference or in peace movements in Saigon, and visited a Peace Village reserved for Agent Orange victims.
In both cities, they were guests at receptions given by the municipal people’s committees. VPDF President Nguyễn Thị Bình, who led the delegation of the Provisional Revolutionary Government of the Republic of South Vietnam at the Paris Conference, and VUFO President Vũ Xuân Hồng were with the visitors in most activities.
Toward the end of their stay in Vietnam, the visitors issued a solidarity message. Read out at the roundtable in HCMC by Jeanne Mirer, President of the International Association of Democratic Lawyers, it follows:
“The foreign delegates gathered in Vietnam to honor and celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Paris Agreement on ending the war and restoring peace in Vietnam (January 27th, 1973 – January 27th, 2013) , which opened the way to the final victory of the Vietnamese people to liberate and unify the country after many decades suffering from wars of aggression, declare our full- hearted solidarity with the people of Vietnam in their strive to protect national independence and sovereignty and to carry out their DOI MOI/Renewal Cause to build a strong and prosperous Vietnam with equality, democracy and civilization, with conditions for development in a peaceful environment, and where the people will be masters of their fortunes and wealth.
“We express our respect and admiration to the Vietnamese who fought heroically against foreign invaders, especially those who sacrificed themselves for national independence and sovereignty of Vietnam, and expressed our full solidarity to the victims of the wars, in particular all generations which are suffering till today the consequences of the toxic ‘Agent Orange’.
“As peace-loving people from all corners of the world, we draw the teachings and lessons from the resistance of the Vietnamese people that the peoples under occupation and aggression have the right to resist and strive for their freedom and the right to determine their fortunes without any interference and foreign intervention. “Defending the same values and principles as we did in the times of the Vietnam War, we declare our solidarity with the peoples who are struggling for a world of peace and social justice,
“From Vietnam, the land of Hồ Chí Minh, we send out a message of confidence that the example of Vietnam will inspire the peoples of the world till final victory!”
P.V.C
