Addressing the event, Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Tran Luu Quang affirmed that with the agreement, for the first time in history, the basic national rights of Vietnam, which are independence, sovereignty, unity, and territorial integrity, were officially affirmed in an international treaty, recognized and respected by the countries and parties attending the Geneva peace conference.

Deputy Prime Minister Tran Luu Quang addresses the ceremony. (Photo: VNA)

The agreement demonstrates the stature, mettle, and characteristics of Vietnamese diplomacy in the Ho Chi Minh era, spreading the message of a peace-loving Vietnamese nation with respect for justice and righteousness, strong will to protect independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity, and willingness for friendly cooperation with all countries and peoples in the world, he said.

With the Geneva Agreement, Vietnam inspired and encouraged the movement for national liberation across five continents for independence, freedom, peace, democracy, progress, and social justice, leading to the collapse of old colonialism around the world, the Deputy PM stressed.

Deputy PM Quang highlighted that the victory at the Geneva peace conference resulted from the Party's correct revolutionary path under the sound leadership and direction of President Ho Chi Minh, the resilient, indomitable, and persistent fighting spirit of the army and people during nine years of resistance that culminated in the historic Dien Bien Phu Victory, and the support and solidarity of international friends and peace-loving people across the globe.

He held that after 70 years, the agreement still left many valuable lessons for national building and safeguarding today and in the future.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son addresses the meeting. (Photo: VGP/Hai Minh)

Vietnamese Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son affirmed that the success that Vietnam gained at the Geneva Peace Conference, the first major multilateral international conference that Vietnam attended to negotiate and sign international treaties with the direct participation of major powers, came from the desire for peace, heroic patriotism, and the brainpower and mettle of Vietnamese people.

The minister held that along with the Preliminary Agreement in 1946 and the Paris Agreement in 1973, the Geneva Agreement in 1954 was a glorious milestone in Vietnam’s revolutionary diplomacy imbued with the Ho Chi Minh diplomatic ideology, style, and art.

Deputy Minister of National Defence Ta Quang Buu (sitting, right), of the delegation of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, and French General Henri Delteil, Acting Commander-in-chief of the French Union forces in Indochina, sign the agreement on the cessation of hostilities in Vietnam. (File photo: VNA)

Many valuable lessons from the Geneva Agreement need to continue to be researched, evaluated, and summarised to apply in the building of a school of foreign affairs and diplomacy imbued with the identity of "Vietnamese bamboo," he stated.

At the event, Major General Pham Son Duong, the son of late Prime Minister Pham Van Dong who led the negotiating team of the Government of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, shared memorable stories that he had heard from his father.

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