President Truong Tan Sang met with ethnic minority students

President Sang said the 1945 August Revolution was a great turning point in the history of the Vietnamese nation. President Ho Chi Minh read the Declaration of Independence to tell the Vietnamese people and the world of the founding of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, now the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, on September 2, 1945, at Ba Dinh square. September 2 became a historic milestone, which opened a new chapter in the national history of construction and defense and brought new lives to all Vietnamese people. A government of the people, by the people and for the people was established to replace the feudal colonial regime. Vietnam put its name on the world map as a free and independent nation and its people, from being treated as slaves, became masters of the nation and their faiths.

Sang said the August Revolution and the founding of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam were the victory of the indomitable will and intellect of the Vietnamese people under the wise and creative leadership of the Vietnamese Communist Party headed by President Ho Chi Minh. Over the last 67 years, the Party has directed the Vietnamese nation to obtain continuous achievements including the Dien Bien Phu victory in 1954, the great victory in the spring of 1975 for national reunification, and outcomes of the national reform. President Truong Tan Sang asked: “Throughout the history of thousands of years, has the nation ever been more beautiful than at present?”

President Sang has reviewed lessons that helped Vietnam conquer various challenges to achieve such revolutionary triumph. They include the combination of national independence and socialism. The revolutionary cause is of the people, by the people and for the people and the power of the Party derives from its close bond with the people. Sang mentioned the importance of strengthening unity within the Party, the nation, and the world and the Party’s wise leadership is the decisive element for victory. If the Vietnamese Party, State and people are able to implement these lessons in reality, the nation can overcome any difficulty.

President Sang said in the new period, solidarity, harmony, and unity must be preserved and promoted with new values to serve the goals of a prosperous people, a powerful nation, democracy, equality, and civilization. He pointed out the Party and State’s responsibilities to encourage positive behaviors contributing to building a more transparent and stronger Vietnamese nation. He emphasized the tasks in the near future including turning Vietnam into an industrial country at the average development level, ensuring socio-political stability, democracy, and discipline, improving the spiritual and material life of the people, strengthening national independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity, elevating Vietnam’s status in the international arena, and generating a firm foundation for higher, faster and more stable development in the long run.

Sang said Vietnamese people should show their love for the nation by contributing to building a stronger and more prosperous nation as the last will of President Ho Chi Minh. We can make things better with our patriotism.

To conclude, President Sang stressed that we should never forget that we have inherited the achievements of the August Revolution. On this important anniversary, we honor President Ho Chi Minh, a great leader and hero in national liberation and a notable cultural figure. We are proud of the past and we have to advance forward confidently to serve our tradition and contribute to national development everlastingly.  

(Excepts from President Truong Tan Sang’s speech)