Exhibition features late leader’s imprints on Vietnam-France relations

Hanoi (VNA) – Late President Ho Chi Minh’s activities in relation to the Vietnamese – French friendship are spotlighted at an exhibition that opened in Hanoi on August 18.

The event is held by the Ho Chi Minh Museum and the Party Central Committee Office’s archives department on the occasion of 70 years since the late leader paid an official visit to France in 1946, and the 71st anniversary of the August Revolution in 1945 that led to the foundation of Vietnam the same year.

Nearly 200 photos, documents and other objects on display provide an overview of the time when President Ho Chi Minh was in France, from activities to seek ways to liberate his homeland from the French colonialists, the struggle for an equal relationship between the two countries, and his official visit to France in 1946.

They also reflect his efforts to build up the two peoples’ solidarity and friendship between 1946 and 1975, along with the development of bilateral ties nowadays.

Nguyen Thuy Duc, Acting Director of the museum, underlined the visit seven decades ago, elaborating that Ho Chi Minh met key figures in France’s Government, political parties, military officers and media, along with Vietnamese expatriates. The leader clearly expressed the Vietnamese people’s goodwill and aspiration for peace during his tour.

In recent years, a number of mutual visits between the two sides’ leaders have tightened bilateral connections across the board. Since they signed a joint statement on setting up a strategic partnership in 2013, Vietnam and France have been working to tap their cooperation potential for the sake of their people as well as for peace, stability and development in the world, Duc noted.

The exhibition will last through early December at the Ho Chi Minh Museum, No. 19A of Ngoc Ha street, Ba Dinh district, Hanoi.-VNA