Vietnam has honoured 658 military and civil units and individuals in recognition of their outstanding contributions to search and repatriation of remains of fallen Vietnamese combatants.

A hand-over ceremony was held in the capital city of Phnom Penh on Jan. 21 in the presence of the Vietnamese Deputy Minister of National Defence, Sen. Lieut. Gen Nguyen Van Duoc, and Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Defence Tea Banh.

Sen. Lieut. Gen. Duoc thanked the State, government, army and people of Cambodia for their fraternal sentiments and assistance to Vietnam in searching and repatriating remains of Vietnamese volunteer soldiers who laid their lives in Cambodia during the war.

Duoc and Tea Banh presented the Friendship Orders and Friendship Medals conferred by the Vietnamese State President to 31 units and 202 individuals, Certificates of Merit bestowed by the Prime Minister to 38 units and 379 individuals, and Certificates of Merit awarded by the Minister of National Defence to eight individuals.

In his speech, Deputy PM Tea Banh voiced support for growing cooperation between the governments and armies of Cambodia and Vietnam , saying it is bringing in encouraging results in many fields.

He spoke highly of the effective collaboration in seeking and returning the remains of fallen Vietnamese combatants as defined in an agreement signed between the two governments.

During the past 10 years, joint search teams unearthed a total of 12,162 sets of remains and repatriated them to Vietnam for reburying. They are looking for more than 8,000 other sets of remains in the years to come./.