Senior Lieutenant General Hoang Xuan Chien, member of the Party Central Committee, Deputy Minister of National Defense, represented the Ministry of National Defense. Attending the ceremony were representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Public Security and relevant agencies and localities of Vietnam. On the US side, there were US Ambassador to Vietnam Marc Knapper, Director of the POW/MIA Accounting Agency of the US Department of Defense Kelly K. McKeague.

Delegates were leaders of the Ministry of National Defense, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Public Security and the Vietnamese agency for searching for missing persons attending the ceremony. Photo: VNA

MIA activities were initiated by Vietnam immediately after the Paris Agreement was signed in 1973. Also in 1973, VNOSMP was established to coordinate this task. Since 1988, the search for missing persons has been conducted with the participation of joint Vietnam-US search teams. Over the past 35 years, with the efforts of both sides, the search for US soldiers missing in action has carried out 150 searches, contributing to the repatriation of hundreds of remains of US soldiers missing in action. This is a cooperative activity that contributes to building trust to normalize and promote Vietnam-US diplomatic relations, opening the door to cooperation between the two countries in many fields, especially overcoming the consequences of war. Currently, the United States and Vietnam are coordinating projects to clean up dioxin, clear bombs and mines, and search for and identify the remains of Vietnamese soldiers who died in the war.

At the ceremony, representatives of the US Department of Defense Prisoner of War/Missing in Action Accounting Agency, on behalf of US servicemen’s families, expressed their sincere thanks to VNOSMP, experts, soldiers and Vietnamese people who participated in the search for US servicemen missing in action during the war. Representatives of Vietnam and the United States affirmed their determination to continue promoting this humanitarian mission to ease the pain of war and contribute to the development of Vietnam-US relations.

HA VU