Hanoi get-together recalls victory of southwest border defence war

Delegates at the event (Source: VNA)

 The Hanoi Union of Friendship Organisations (HAUFO) held a get-together in the city on January 6 to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the victory of the southwest border safeguarding war and  the Vietnam-Cambodia victory over the genocidal regime (Jan. 7).

Attending the event were Politburo member and Secretary of the municipal Party Committee Hoang Trung Hai, and Chairman of the Vietnam-Cambodia Friendship Association Vu Mao, among others.

Speaking at the event, head of the municipal Party Committee’s Commission for Mass Mobilisation and HAUFO Chairwoman Nguyen Lan Huong said the victory of the southwest border protection war in Vietnam and the overthrow of the genocidal regime in Cambodia on January 7, 1979 opened up a new era of national independence, peace, freedom and development in the neighboring country, adding that it was also a victory of the justice cause and fighting alliance between the two nations, especially at difficult times.

Vietnamese voluntary soldiers and experts will never forget support and assistance given by their Cambodian fellows during the period, she said.

Huong expressed her belief that the traditional friendship and solidarity as well as comprehensive cooperation between Vietnam and Cambodia over the past five decades will be further strengthened and developed, becoming an invaluable, sacred and sustainable asset of the two nations.

Cambodian Ambassador to Vietnam Prak Nguon Hong said the January 7, 1979 victory marked the second revival of the Cambodian people, giving them trust in the future of the country.

Seng KrySophol, a Cambodian student in Friendship 80 School in Hanoi’s outlying district of Son Tay said Vietnam – Cambodia friendship monuments built in many Cambodian localities are tributes to voluntary Vietnamese soldiers and royal Cambodian fellows who laid down their lives for national independence and freedom, and a vivid symbol of solidarity and bravery of the Vietnamese and Cambodian armies and people.

Following the victory, the Vietnamese government sent tens of thousands of officials and cadres from ministries, agencies and organisations from central to local levels to work as experts in Cambodia at the request of the National United Front and the provisionary revolutionary government of Cambodia.

Vietnam also provided Cambodia with timely material and technical assistance to help the nation restore its socio-economic development, national defence-security, culture, health care and education, thereby regaining its position on the international arena.

VNA