PANO - A defense delegation, led by Minister of National Defense Gen. Ngo Xuan Lich, held a meeting with the Central Committee of the Vietnam War Veterans' Association. Lt. Gen. Do Can, Deputy Director of the General Department of Politics, Lt. Gen. Pham Hong Huong, Deputy Chief of the General Staff, and representatives of the defense ministry's relevant agencies joined the delegation.

Minister of National Defense Gen. Ngo Xuan Lich speaking at the meeting

At the meeting, Sen. Lt. Gen. Nguyen Van Duoc, Chairman of the association, expressed thanks for the defense minister's and other senior defense leaders' care and briefed the delegation on the association's activities over the past time. Accordingly, the organization mobilized its members to actively take part in the movements in localities, especially the "Building new-styled rural areas" drive and the "Entire people building cultural lifestyle in residential areas". According to initial figures, the association members supported to build 52,000km of rural roads, dredged 51,000km of irrigation canals, 8,000 concrete brigades, to name just a few. In 2015 and the first half of 2016, they donated 3.1 million sq.m of land, raised 120 billion of VND, build 500 new bridges, and so on. The association also collaborated with local authorities and relevant agencies to repatriate thousands of sets of Vietnamese war martyrs' remains.

Having hailed the association and its members' achievements, General Lich affirmed that the Central Military Commission and the Ministry of National Defense will continuously foster interractions between the Vietnam's War Veteran Association and the Vietnam People's Army, contributing to the accomplishment of the two organizations' tasks and the national construction and defense cause.

On this occasion, the defense minister extended good health and happiness to all members of the association and wished them to continue promoting the virtues of Uncle Ho's soldiers and contributing to the country's socio-economic development in the future.

Translated by Anh Tien