On June 30, a high-ranking delegation of Ho Chi Minh City led by Secretary of the Municipal Party Committee Nguyen Van Nen attended an opening ceremony of President Ho Chi Minh’s Monument in Saint Petersburg, Russia.
Especially, the opening ceremony had the appearance of thousands of Vietnamese citizens living, working and studying in Saint Petersburg City, including many people from Moscow along with Russian people.
On behalf of the Party, State, Vietnamese people and the Party Committee, authorities and people of Ho Chi Minh City, Secretary of the municipal Party Committee Nguyen Van Nen extended his sincere thankfulness to the Government of the Russian Federation, authorities and people of Saint Petersburg who had extended the respect and affection to late President Ho Chi Minh – an outstanding leader of Vietnam and a great friend of Russian people.
Secretary Nguyen Van Nen expressed that Russian friends’ joining hands with Vietnam to build Ho Chi Minh’s monument is a work of profound political and humane significance. President Ho Chi Minh, the hero of national liberation and great man of culture, has been honored by UNESCO.
The Secretary of the municipal Party Committee believed that the monument would be a cultural destination and a point of convergence for tourists, people in Saint Petersburg and Vietnam travelers when they pay visits to Russia and Saint Petersburg.
Secretary Nguyen Van Nen said that the inauguration of President Ho Chi Minh’s monument also reminded Vietnamese people to continue to promote the glorious history of the country; thereby contributing to connecting and developing the relationship between the two countries as well as between Ho Chi Minh City and Saint Petersburg.
100 years ago, on June 30 of 1923, during his national salvation journey, Nguyen Ai Quoc - an outstanding person of Vietnam - first set foot in Petrograd, now Saint Petersburg city of Russia and he had stayed there until the beginning of October 1924.
Thanks to experiences during the period of living and studying in the Soviet Union, Nguyen Ai Quoc brought the revolutionary cause of the Vietnamese people to a glorious victory.
At the inauguration ceremony, Governor of Saint Petersburg Alesander Beglov believed that the monument will become a new symbol of the Russian – Vietnamese friendship. Besides, Governor Alesander Beglov sent his compliments to all Vietnamese friends at the ceremony in Saint Petersburg and wished that Vietnam would be always prosperous.
President Ho Chi Minh’s monument is three meters high with a pedestal of 1.5 meters high which is placed in a flower garden in Vyborgsky District, Saint Petersburg with its main side heading to the East towards Vietnam.
The monument has a deep characteristic symbol which is solemnly placed in a 4,000-square-meter square in a prime location at the intersection between Ho Chi Minh and Enlightenment Boulevard.
The monument was cast in Russia with a two-ton bronze contribution by the Vietnamese community.
Saint Petersburg authorities’s decision on establishing President Ho Chi Minh Monument shows the warm affection and deep respect of the Russian people to President Ho Chi Minh as well as the close friendship and cooperation between the two countries.
