The event took place on the occasion of the 48th anniversary of the Liberation of the South and National Reunification Day (April 30, 1975 - 2023).
Among the Swiss friends, there were three special guests – Bernard Bachelard, Olivier Parriaux, and Noé Graff, who traveled from Switzerland to Paris to fly the flag of the National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam on top of Notre Dame Cathedral Paris on January 18 and 19, 1969 to protest the war and advocate peace for Vietnam.
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Vietnamese Ambassador to Switzerland Phung The Long (left) and Olivier Parriaux at the gathering |
They said their act around the time the four-party conference on Vietnam officially began in Paris became a hot topic for the international media then.
They were very satisfied with the influence of their act which extended the message to the world without the three saying they did it, Parriaux said.
He noted that they have collected and carefully kept the articles with photos covering the event, adding he hopes to find out similar reports on Vietnamese newspapers at that memorable point of time.
Vietnamese Ambassador to Switzerland Phung The Long said that 2023 marks 50 years since the signing of the Paris Agreement on Ending the War and Restoring Peace in Vietnam (January 27, 1973).
He expressed his belief that the Swiss guests at the gathering will continue cherishing their memories of the days when they joined other peace-loving people around the world in protesting the U.S. administration’s unjust war and supporting the Vietnamese people’s just struggle for national independence and reunification.
The support and assistance in different forms from people around the world, including the Swiss, throughout the history have given the Vietnamese people more strength to obtain glorious victories in the fight for national independence and reunification, Phung The Long added.
The ambassador went on to say that Switzerland set up the diplomatic relationship with the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, now the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, in October 1971. Shortly after the signing of the Paris Peace Accords, Switzerland became one of the first Western countries to open an embassy in Hanoi.
Since then, bilateral friendship and cooperation have been flourishing in multiple aspects, from politics, economy, development cooperation to education - training, and people-to-people exchange. The Swiss people, via their government, friendship associations, and non-governmental organizations, have provided over 500 million USD in development aid for Vietnam over the last 30 years, helping the country address war aftermaths, mitigate poverty, and boost socio-economic development, according to the diplomat.
On this occasion, President of the Switzerland - Vietnam Friendship Association Anjuska Weil reviewed the history of the association, which was set up on November 27, 1982, noting that even from the 1960s, many of its members took part in the antiwar movement.
She said the association will keep standing side by side with the Vietnamese people in efforts towards peace, friendship, and social progress in each country and the whole world.
Source: VNA