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| Photo for illustration |
Addressing the meeting, Senior Lieutenant-General Nguyen Thanh Cung, Deputy Defense Minister, the head of Vietnamese Government’s Special Mission stressed that over the past 10 years, Vietnamese and Cambodian governments, local authorities, armed forces and people collected and brought home around 15,000 sets of remains of Vietnamese martyrs. This resulted from the effective cooperation and support from Cambodia, contributing to promoting the friendship between Vietnam and Cambodia.
It is estimated that up to 5000 sets of remains of Vietnamese volunteer soldiers and experts died in Cambodia have not yet been found.
For his part, General Pol Saroeun, Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF), and Chairman of the Cambodian Government’s Special Mission suggested that the two sides should do their utmost to collect and repatriate remaining sets of remains of Vietnamese martyrs to Vietnam.
General Pol Saroeun also asked the Vietnamese Government to increase the number of members in its special search teams in Cambodia to accelerate the collection of sets of remains of Vietnamese martyrs.
Participants agreed that this important suggestion showed the sentiment, responsibility and determination of the Cambodian Government and its people in collecting and repatriate sets of remains of Vietnamese martyrs. To promote the collection of sets of remains of Vietnamese martyrs, the two sides should mobilize local people to provide martyrs’ information to local authorities and search teams to collect sets of remains of Vietnamese martyrs.
Major-General Tran Van Hung, Deputy Political Commissar of Military Region 7, called on all Vietnamese who had been involved in the international mission in Cambodia to provide any possible information to help search team promote the collection of sets of remains of Vietnamese martyrs.
At the working session, participants recalled many touching stories showing the sentiment of Cambodian people to Vietnamese martyrs. Mr. Thin of Pèm Cho District, Prây Veng Province, has for years taken care of graves of Vietnamese martyrs.
The meeting ended with signing of a bilteral agreement on promoting the cooperation in finding and repatriating sets of remains of Vietnamese martyrs to the home country in the 2012-2013 dry season. The agreement once again shows the sentiment and responsibility of Cambodian Government and its people the heroes who had sacrificed their lives for in the noble international obligation.
Translated by Tran Hoai