Retired senior officers gathered in Hanoi

Present at the event were former Party General-Secretary Le Kha Phieu, former Defense Ministers: General Pham Van Tra and General Phung Quang Thanh, former Director of the General Department of Politics Senior Lieutenant General Pham Thanh Ngan, leaders of the General Staff and the General Department of Politics of the Vietnam People’s Army, among others.

General Ngo Xuan Lich

At the meeting, on behalf of the Central Military Commission and the Defense Ministry, General Lich informed the delegates of major regional and international developments; results of implementation of the military-defense missions in 2018, and plans for 2019; and present plots and tricks of hostile forces.

In order to successfully complete all missions in 2019, apart from the efforts of the Central Military Commission, the Defense Ministry, and troops in the whole army, the Defense Minister urged former senior officers to continue making contributions to and sharing their valued experience in building the Vietnam People’s Army.

2019 sees a number of military events, including the 40th anniversary of Vietnam’s victory in its Southwestern border protection war as well as of the victory of the Vietnamese and Cambodian peoples and armed forces over the Pol Pot genocidal regime (January 7), the 40th anniversary of the Northern border protection war (February 17), and the 75th founding anniversary of the Vietnam People’s Army and the 30th Whole People's Defense Festive Day (December 22).

The Defense Minister expressed his deep gratitude to former senior officers serving in different periods of the resistance wars for the national salvation, international service, and the current national construction and defense cause.

General Lich extended greetings to former senior officers on the occasion of the upcoming Lunar New Year (Tet) holiday and hoped that they would forever be the bright examples for the whole army’s troops to follow.

Translated by Van Hieu