State President Nguyen Minh Triet received in Hanoi on Nov. 5 Andre Menras, a French friend close to Vietnam during the war against the US.

At the reception, Menras expressed his aspiration to become a Vietnamese citizen. He said he has devoted his sentiments to and would do everything he could to help Vietnamese people, particularly poor children.

Praising Menras’s sentiments and contributions to Vietnam, President Triet affirmed that the Vietnamese Party, State and people are grateful to special friends who were shoulder to shoulder with the Vietnamese people during wartime and who have contributed to the country’s construction and development.

Regarding Menras’s wish to become Vietnamese citizen, President Triet said the country’s Law on Nationality accepted special cases and Menras is one of them.

According to the President, authorised agencies are working on his application to grant him citizenship.

Menras, who was a primary teacher in Saigon 39 years ago, together with one of his friends, flew the flag of the National Liberation Front in South Vietnam in front of the Lower House of the Saigon regime and spread leaflets to protest the war.

They were jailed for two and a half years and then expelled to France.

In prison, Menras became acquainted with Vietnamese communists, learnt Vietnamese and came to understand Vietnam’s war against the imperialists.

He was given a Vietnamese name, Ho Cuong Quyet, the surname being taken from President Ho Chi Minh. Cuong Quyet means determination.

Returning to France, he and his friend wrote a book on their life in prison entitled “We Accuse: Back from Sai Gon’s Prisons”. The book was published in France in May 1973 and translated into various languages. The Vietnamese copy was made public in 1974 and re-printed in 2003.

As from 2004, Menras started granting scholarships to financially disadvantaged Vietnamese students. In his position as President of an association for pedagogic exchange between France and Vietnam , he became a link between universities in Da Nang , Nha Trang and Ho Chi Minh City with French universities to exchange trainees and experiences.

From late 2006, Menras worked as trade agent in Vietnam for 800 wine-makers in Languedoc Loussillon region in southern France to raise funds for scholarships.

He also actively raised funds to purchase water-filters for residents of the Truong Sa (Spratly) archipelago./.