Vietnamese Ambassador to Switzerland Phung The Long (L) and Olivier Parriaux, one of the three Swiss nationals flying the flag of the National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam on top of Notre Dame Cathedral Paris on January 18 - 19, 1969, at the gathering. (Photo: VNA) The event took place on the occasion of the 48th anniversary of the Liberation of the South and National Reunification Day (April30, 1975 - 2023).
Among the Swiss friends, there were three special guests – BernardBachelard, Olivier Parriaux, and Noé Graff, who travelled fromSwitzerland to Paris to fly the flag of the National Front for theLiberation of South Vietnam on top of Notre Dame Cathedral Paris onJanuary 18 - 19, 1969 to protest the war and advocate peace for Vietnam.
They said their act around the time the four-party conferenceon Vietnam officially began in Paris became a hot topic for the internationalmedia then.
They werevery satisfied with the influence of their act which extended themessage to the world without the three saying they did it, Parriaux said.
He notedthat they have collected and carefully kept the articles with photos coveringthe event, adding he hopes to find out similar reports on Vietnamese newspapersat that memorable point of time.
Vietnamese Ambassador to Switzerland Phung TheLong said that 2023 marks 50 years since the signing of the Paris Agreement onEnding the War and Restoring Peace in Vietnam (January 27, 1973).
He expressed his belief that the Swiss guests at thegathering will continue cherishing their memories of the days when they joined other peace-loving people around the world in protesting the US administration’sunjust war and supporting the Vietnamese people’s just struggle for nationalindependence and reunification.
The supportand assistance in different forms from people around the world, including theSwiss, throughout the history have given the Vietnamese people more strength toobtain glorious victories in the fight for national independence andreunification, Long added.
The ambassador went on to say that Switzerland set up thediplomatic relationship with the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, now the SocialistRepublic of Vietnam, in October 1971. Shortly after the signing of the ParisPeace Accords, Switzerland became one of the first Western countries to open anembassy in Hanoi.
Since then, bilateral friendship and cooperation have been flourishingin multiple aspects, from politics, economy, development cooperation toeducation - training, and people-to-people exchange. The Swiss people, viatheir Government, friendship associations, and non-governmental organisations,have provided over 500 million USD in development aid for Vietnam over the last30 years, helping the country address war aftermaths, mitigate poverty, andboost socio-economic development, according to the diplomat.
On this occasion, President of the Switzerland - Vietnam FriendshipAssociation Anjuska Weil reviewed the history of the association, which was setup on November 27, 1982, noting that even from the 1960s, many of its members tookpart in the antiwar movement.
She said the association will keep standing side by side withthe Vietnamese people in efforts towards peace, friendship, and social progressin each country and the whole world./.
VNA
