Illustrative image (Source: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) – Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam urged authorities at all levels, ministries and sectors to push forward with the search for and collection of fallen soldier remains with the goal of finding around 3,000 sets of remains each year from now to 2020.
He made the call during a teleconference held by the Steering Committee on the Search and Repatriation of Remains of Fallen Soldiers (known as Committee 1237) on December 7 in Hanoi.
The Deputy PM, who is also the Head of the Committee 1237, hailed the joint efforts made by relevant bodies over the past years to carry out the task, which demonstrate the nation’s gratitude to the war martyrs.
Dam also praised the active contributions the mass media communication and international cooperation have made to the search of martyrs’ remains nationwide.
In the 2016-2020 period, stakeholders need to accelerate the making of lists of fallen soldiers and identify key areas for searching, he said, adding that information and communication technology (ICT) should be used in the work and relevant legal framework should be updated to suit the current situation.
Many participants highlighted the difficulties facing the implementation of the project over the past years, such as lack of information, the workload remains huge, and weak management.
They called for financial and technical support for the staff involving in the work.
According to reports made by the Committee 1237, as many as 1,108 sets of soldiers’ remains were gathered both at home and abroad in 2014, of which 329 sets were collected in Laos and 945 sets were brought home from Cambodia.
Since 2013, 7,997 sets of remains of fallen soldiers have been found and reburied, with 1,347 sets repatriated from Laos, and 2,578 sets from Cambodia.
For the period until 2020, the country will strive to build a database on fallen soldiers and their graves, and basically complete the repatriation of remains of Vietnamese soldiers and experts from Cambodia and Laos.-VNA
