Cambodia, Laos delegates arrive

HCM City — President Nguyen Minh Triet received delegates from Cambodia, Laos and Viet Nam, who were attending a people-to-people friendship and co-operation meeting in HCM City on Friday.

The President welcomed the Cambodian and Lao delegations to the meeting, which took place as the Vietnamese people were celebrating the 35th anniversary of the South's liberation and the nation's reunification. This reflected the solidarity and sentiments that the Cambodian and Lao peoples had extended to their Vietnamese counterparts, he said.

Despite their different conditions and situations,the three countries shared a traditional history of struggling against foreign colonialists and imperialists, and had always supported each other in national liberation, Triet noted.

He told the guests that reciprocal visits by leaders of the three nations in recent years and booming economic relationships had demonstrated the continuous development of trust, solidarity, friendship and co-operation.

Deputy Prime Minister and head of the Cambodian delegation Men Sam An thanked Viet Nam for its valuable, timely and effective assistance to Cambodia's revolutionary cause and to its fight against the Khmer Rouge genocidal regime.

The President of the Cambodia-Viet Nam Friendship Association also conveyed her deep condolences and gratitude to the families of Vietnamese volunteer officials and soldiers who had laid down their lives for the national liberation and recovery of Cambodia.

Vilayvong Bouddakham, head of the Lao delegation and Vice President of the Laos-Viet Nam Friendship Association, said that the 1975 Great Spring Victory was important not only to the people of Viet Nam but also to those of Laos and Cambodia.

The Lao people were always grateful for the wholehearted assistance provided by the Party, State and people of Viet Nam over the past years, he said.

The meeting closed on May 1, having put forward many proposals on how to increase exchanges and co-operation among the three countries as well as sub-regional and regional co-operation.

It suggested the organisation of a "Green Summer", in which Vietnamese youths could take part in voluntary activities in Laos and Cambodia, and vice versa.

The three countries' delegates also proposed that their governments and ministries of education and training set up a common university to offer training in Vietnamese, Lao and Thai languages in culture, society, medical care and information technology, and to mobilise the three countries' businesses to get involved in these programmes. — VNS