The Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Information and Communication held a ceremony to launch a special stamp collection themed “ Vietnam in the ASEAN Community” in Hanoi on October 27.

Attending the ceremony were ASEAN General Secretary Surin Pitsuwan, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Gia Khiem and ministers of nine ASEAN countries.

The issuance of the stamp collection, initiated by the Ministry of Information and Communication, is one of the activities during the 17 th ASEAN Summit, which is taking place in Hanoi .

The special stamp collection features the national flags of the ten ASEAN member countries arranged in the shape of an ascending dragon implying the rising role of a united ASEAN. The design is created by artist Nguyen Du from the Vietnam Stamp Company, who won the first prize at a contest organised by the Vietnam Postal Corporation.

At the ceremony, Deputy PM Khiem and ASEAN General Secretary Surin Pitsuwan presented a certificate to the winning artist./.