Vietnam Focuses on Disaster Relief and Identifying Fallen Soldiers

The condition of the last victim still receiving treatment following a speedboat capsizing off Phu Quoc has shown positive signs, Cho Ray Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City reported on July 16. After three days of intensive treatment, the Indian male patient has made encouraging progress. Search and rescue operations have been completed following a tourist canoe capsize off Phu Quoc Island in An Giang province on July 11, with authorities now focusing on caring for survivors, supporting victims’ families and investigating the cause of the accident. The last seriously injured victim of the deadly canoe capsize off Phu Quoc Island was transferred to Cho Ray Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City on July 13 for further treatment. Prime Minister Le Minh Hung on July 23 reaffirmed that caring for revolution contributors remains a consistent policy of the Party and State, reflecting the profound humanitarian value of the socialist regime. The Central Highland province of Dak Lak is home to 34 martyrs’ cemeteries with 15,222 graves, of which 4,124 remain unidentified. Since early June, the province has been exhuming unidentified martyrs' graves to collect biological samples for DNA testing. Minister of Foreign Affairs Le Hoai Trung and UK Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs Ed Miliband co-chaired the ASEAN–UK Post-Ministerial Conference on July 22 as part of the 59th ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting (AMM-59) and related meetings in Manila, the Philippines. For more than six decades, Tran Huu Hue, 74, from the Mekong delta province of An Giang, has devoted himself to collecting postage stamps, building a collection of more than 300,000 stamps and 24 thematic collections with strong historical value, including those featuring President Ho Chi Minh and a collection titled Hoang Sa-Truong Sa Archipelagos Belong to Vietnam. Le Hoai Trung, Politburo member of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee, Minister of Foreign Affairs, on July 22 met with Wang Yi, Politburo member, Director of the Office of the Commission for Foreign Affairs of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and Minister of Foreign Affairs of China, on the sidelines of the 59th ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting (AMM-59) and Related Meetings in Manila, the Philippines. Vietnamese Minister of Foreign Affairs Le Hoai Trung is in the Philippines to attend the 59th ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting (AMM-59) and Related Meetings. National Assembly Chairman Tran Thanh Man received Hagiuda Koichi, Executive Acting Secretary-General of Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), in Hanoi on July 22. The war has long ended, yet hundreds of thousands of fallen soldiers remain unidentified. Behind every unnamed grave is a family that has waited in anguish for decades. Determined to honour those who sacrificed their lives for the Fatherland, the Ministry of Public Security is conducting a nationwide campaign to collect DNA samples from relatives of fallen soldiers. Following the recent flash floods, many households in Muong Than Commune, Lai Chau Province, lost their homes and were forced to evacuate. To help residents rebuild their lives as quickly as possible, the provincial authorities have mobilised maximum manpower and equipment to fast-track the construction of an emergency resettlement area in San Bay village. Prime Minister Le Minh Hung held his first phone talks with his Canadian counterpart Mark Carney on July 21 evening. The Vietnam–Singapore Semiconductor Industry Development Cooperation Forum 2026 was held in Ho Chi Minh City on July 21 to promote investment connectivity, technology transfer, human resource development and broader cooperation in the semiconductor industry. Deputy Prime Minister Ho Quoc Dung led a delegation to the flood-ravaged commune of Muong Than in the northern mountainous province of Lai Chau on July 21 to inspect recovery efforts. On May 8, 1954, just one day after the resounding Dien Bien Phu Victory, the Geneva Conference opened discussions on the restoration of peace in Indochina. After 75 days of negotiations, the Geneva Agreement was officially signed on July 20 (local time). It affirmed Vietnam’s independence, sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity, required foreign troops to withdraw from Indochina, stipulated military demarcation lines as temporary, and called for free general elections in each Indochinese country to achieve national reunification. Troops in Lao Cai province are helping residents recover after days of heavy rain triggered widespread landslides in Mu Cang Chai commune, damaging homes, disrupting infrastructure and cutting off transport links. Nearly four months after the launch of Vietnam's 500-Day Campaign, authorities have recovered 1,384 sets of martyrs' remains, according to the National Steering Committee for the Search, Recovery and Identification of Martyrs' Remains. More than 70 years after they fell in the forest of Pha Din Pass, the remains of two Vietnamese martyrs have been recovered by the search and recovery team of the Dien Bien provincial Military Command. Their long journey home has now begun from the very place where they made the ultimate sacrifice during the resistance war. The third meeting of the 14th Party Central Committee opened in Hanoi on July 20, under the chair of Party General Secretary and State President To Lam. Students from the Faculty of Traditional Musical Instruments at the Hanoi College of Art are not only preserving Vietnam’s traditional musical heritage but also helping bring Vietnamese music to audiences around the world. Despite relentless rain and knee-deep mud, officers and soldiers of the Lai Chau provincial Border Guard, together with sniffer-dog teams, have remained steadfast at the scene, racing against time to search for those still missing. As part of the Vietnam–Laos Trade Fair 2026 (VIETLAO EXPO 2026) in Vientiane, the Vietnam–Laos Business Networking Seminar 2026 was held on July 17. Copyright, VietnamPlus, Vietnam News Agency (VNA) Editor-in-chief, Mr. Tran Tien Duan.