Moscow (VNA) – The people of the Soviet Union in the past and Russia atpresent always hold special sentiments for late President Ho Chi Minh,Vietnamese Ambassador to Russia Ngo Duc Manh has affirmed.
Talking to VietnamNews Agency (VNA) correspondents in Russia on the occasion of the late leader’s130th birthday (May 19), Manh said that in his position,he has met many leading officials of the Russian Federal State, localities,Russian researchers, and Russian friends who haveexpressed their sentiments and respect for President Ho Chi Minh.
The diplomat emphasisedthe role of the President in laying a foundation for the friendship betweenVietnam and the Soviet Union in the past and Russia at present.
He revealed that onMay 19, a video conference between Ho Chi Minh City of Vietnam and Saint Petersburg of Russia willbe organised, with Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee NguyenThien Nhan and Governor of Saint Petersburg Alexander Beglov expected todeliver speeches.
The Vietnamesediplomatic representative office in Russia is working with leading officials ofSaint Petersburg to speed up the installation of a statue of President Ho ChiMinh in this Russian city where he first set food in the Soviet Union, Manhadded.
On this occasion,the VNA correspondents in Russia also had a talk with Prof. Dr. Vladimir Kolotov, head ofthe Ho Chi Minh Institute under the Saint Petersburg State University.
Kolotov, one of theleading Russian scholars of Vietnamese studies, affirmed that President Ho ChiMinh always left a good impression on those who once met him.
The Ho Chi MinhInstitute is the first foreign research institute named after the late Presidentin the world, he stated, adding that this year’s May 19 also marks theinstitute’s 10th founding anniversary.
President Ho ChiMinh was born on May 19, 1890 in Kim Lien commune, Nam Dan district, thenorth-central province of Nghe An. He devoted his whole life to the cause of nationalliberation, while tirelessly striving for peace and progress around the world.
He also led thestruggle for national independence and established the Democratic Republic ofVietnam, now the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, in 1945. The President passedaway in 1969./.