PM attends Singapore’s National Day Parade

Singapore’s National Day Parade

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung attended the 50 th National Day Parade of Singapore on August 9 at the invitation of President Tony Tan Keng Yam and Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.

Present at the event in Padang, where the first parade was held in 1966, were also six heads of state and Government leaders together with representatives from diplomatic corps of 18 nations.

The festivities featured about 2,000 marchers, 50 military aircraft, 177 tanks and other security hardware. One of the highlights was a fly-past by a Singapore Airlines Airbus A380 superjumbo adorned with the republic's red-and-white flag featuring a crescent and four stars.

The parade also included a special tribute to Lee Kuan Yew, who led Singapore into independence and was its prime minister until 1990.

This year’s procession, the largest of its kind, is significant to Singaporeans as over the past five decades, the city state has risen from a poor nation to one of the most developed economies in the world.

According to the organising board, approximately 200,000 people gathered at the Marina Bay to watch the procession through LED screens installed around the Floating Platform.

Singapore became a republic on August 9, 1965, when it separated from the Malay federation./.

(VNA)