Socialist Republic of Vietnam

May 19, 2003

NGHE AN — The curtains came down on Sunday on a statue of late President Ho Chi Minh erected in his native province of Nghe An, in one of a slew of ceremonies across the county commemorating his 113th birthday on Monday.

At the inaugural ceremony in the province’s capital city of Vinh – where the statue and a square named after Uncle Ho were built – Party General Secretary Nong Duc Manh praised the late president for his contributions to the nation in the modern times.

"President Ho Chi Minh is the pre-eminent national hero, an outstanding revolutionary among national liberalisation forces, international communism and worker movements, and one of the world’s leading cultural figures," Manh said.

"He was a leader of genius, who led the Party and the nation from one success to another on the path towards independence, freedom, national re-unification and socialism," he said.

Ho Chi Minh is a great friend of the oppressed and working classes, and ally to all progressive parties around the world, Manh told the ceremony.

The 18m and 150 tonne high granite Uncle Ho was placed in the 11ha Ho Chi Minh square.

Residents of the late president’s native province were told that the Politburo would pull out all the stops to help Nghe An meet its modernisation and industrialisation goals.

He said that the Party’s soft spot for the province’s development was to fulfil Ho Chi Minh’s wishes to see Nghe An rank as one of the most prosperous provinces in the north with improved living conditions for its residents.

Party leader Manh also burned some incense at Uncle Ho’s memorial house in Kim Lien Commune in Nghe An’s Nam Dan District on Saturday afternoon.

The general secretary also took in some exhibits and planted trees on the premises of the memorial house, before attending the opening of the national Sen Village Cultural Festival dedicated to President Ho Chi Minh.

Earlier in the morning, Manh had offered incense a the late president’s mausoleum together with other Party, State and Fatherland Front leaders and veteran revolutionaries in Ha Noi.

Saturday morning also saw a ceremony for the would-be 113-year-old in Ha Noi.

Addressing the event, Politburo member and Secretary of the Ha Noi Party Committee Nguyen Phu Trong expressed the determination to promote national unity and effectively carry out the resolutions of the Party’s Central Committee to fulfil socio-economic tasks for international integration.

In recent years, most of the city’s socio-economic tasks have been fulfilled or surpassed with gross municipal product growing by 10 per cent per year and its industrial production value jumping by 20 per cent annually.

He also affirmed that Viet Nam must develop and apply Ho Chi Minh’s thoughts on national unity to ensure the country’s development and international integration processes are a success.

Among the hobnobbing of senior officials, luminaries in attendance at the conference included General Secretary Manh, State President Tran Duc Luong, Prime Minister Phan Van Khai, National Assembly Chairman Nguyen Van An and President of the National Fatherland Front Committee Pham The Duyet.

PM Khai on Sunday visited the Ho Chi Minh museum in Ha Noi, where he asked the staff to do more to preserve the invaluable historic materials about the leader.

In yet another celebration, prizes for a competition to design websites themed "Uncle Ho with the youth" were presented at a ceremony held in Ha Noi last Friday.

Party General Secretary Manh sent a letter, congratulating young winners. — VNS