Attending the ceremony were ASEAN General Secretary Surin Pitsuwan,Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Gia Khiem and ministersof nine ASEAN countries.
The issuance of the stampcollection, initiated by the Ministry of Information and Communication,is one of the activities during the 17 th ASEAN Summit, which istaking place in Hanoi .
The special stampcollection features the national flags of the ten ASEAN member countriesarranged in the shape of an ascending dragon implying the rising roleof a united ASEAN. The design is created by artist Nguyen Du from theVietnam Stamp Company, who won the first prize at a contest organised bythe Vietnam Postal Corporation.
At the ceremony, Deputy PM Khiem and ASEAN General Secretary Surin Pitsuwan presented a certificate to the winning artist./.