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| Sunday, 1 May 2005 |
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Vietnam fetes 30th anniversary of war's end HO CHI MINH CITY, Saturday (AFP) Tens of thousands of people crammed the streets here Saturday for a colourful commemoration of the 30th anniversary of the city's fall to communist forces which ended the drawn-out Vietnam War. The entire city centre was decked out with large, colourful banners and flowers to remember the fall in 1975 of the southern hub then known as Saigon, and the defeat of US-backed South Vietnamese regime that was based here. People massed in front of the former regime's presidential palace, now called Reunification Palace, to watch the gala celebrations attended by top leaders including President Tran Duc Luong and Prime Minister Phan Van Khai. Raul Castro, Cuba's defence minister and brother of President Fidel Castro, was among the foreign guests. Reflecting changing times, the commemorations were heavily accented on the city's economic achievements, with enterprise and youth on display and messages of communist orthodoxy relegated to the background. Luong paid tribute to Ho Chin Minh City's economic prowess, reflecting the country's own agenda. "The city can create major internal capacities and attract a great deal of foreign investment and mobilise human resources from other regions. It is the engine accelerating the southern region and the whole country," Luong said at a ceremony. A grand parade followed, with soldiers and students enacting phases of the war. Young workers from the city's commercial sector then marked past a marquee where the communist old guard were seated. About two-thirds of Vietnam's 82 million population is under 30 years old. For them, the war that marked their parents is history. **** Norway cancels Vietnam's debt OSLO, Saturday (AFP) Norway will cancel Vietnam's debt of 35 million kroner (4.3 million euros, 5.57 million dollars), the government announced on Friday on the eve of the 30th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War. In return, the Vietnamese government has agreed to donate an equivalent sum to development and poverty eradication projects, the Norwegian foreign ministry said in a statement. The decision comes as Vietnam prepares to mark the fall of Saigon to North Vietnam's communist troops, ending a conflict that killed three million Vietnamese and 58,000 US soldiers. Thanks to its abundant oil and gas reserves in the North Sea, Norway is
one of the richest countries in the world. It has previously cancelled the
debts of Senegal, Tanzania, Benin and Ghana. |
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