International Conference “Vietnam - 40 years of unification, development and integration”

The two-day conference (April 25-26) in Binh Duong attracted more than 300 research papers and articles from nearly 100 domestic and foreign scientists, including 18 research papers and articles from 18 authors from 10 countries and territories: the US, Brazil, Taiwan, South Korea, the United States, Japan, France, China, Malaysia, and Australia. Among them, there were famous international scholars who devoted most of their scientific careers to Vietnam, such as Prof. Carl Thayer from the Australian Defense Academy, Prof. Hugues Tertrais from the University of Paris I, Dr. Piere Journoud from the Institute of Military History (French Ministry of Defense), Prof. Marc Gilbert from the World Historical Association, Prof. Pierre Asselin from Hawaii Pacific University (USA), Prof. Yoshiharu Tsuboi from Waseda University (Japan), etc.

Speaking at the opening of the conference, Prof. Dr. Nguyen Van Khanh, Rector of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities (VNU Hanoi) affirmed that 40 years have passed since the end of the "Vietnamese People's Resistance War against America" ​​which the world calls the "Vietnam War", but its echoes are still reverberating today. Regardless of its name, it is still one of the most glorious and glorious pages in the history of the Vietnamese people's resistance against foreign invaders, and one of the events that had the greatest influence on the world in the 20th century. The victory of the great patriotic war was the result of the strategic and creative leadership of the Party and Uncle Ho, of the solidarity of peace-loving peoples in the world, but first and foremost, it was the victory of the determination to fight and win of millions of Vietnamese people who did not hesitate to shed blood, heroically fought and sacrificed for the independence and freedom of the Fatherland. With that victory, the Vietnamese people have completed the goal of national reunification, entering a new era: the era of peace, independence, and the whole country moving towards socialism.

Prof. Dr. Nguyen Van Khanh speaks at the conference

The conference revolved around three major issues: National reunification issues (1954 – 1975); construction and development issues in 40 years (1975 – 2015); Vietnam's international integration issues in 40 years (1975 – 2015).

In the first topic, the reports and discussions contributed to clarifying the questions raised by the conference's Organizing Committee, which were: The inevitability of victory of the Vietnamese people in the resistance war against the US to save the country and the inevitability of failure of the neo-colonial war of aggression in the years 1954-1975; the victory on April 30, 1975 was the result of the entire nation's 20-year long resistance war; peace and national reunification opened a new period in the nation's history.

In the second topic, the workshop focused on clarifying the following issues: Has the economic and social development over the past 40 years (1975-2015) properly exploited the potential and strengths of a unified nation and been consistent with the laws of motion and development? The challenges in renewing the political system and the issue of stable and sustainable development in renewal; and the issue of developing the country's culture and education while the development gap is still large, the requirement to preserve the national cultural identity has many challenges, and the national education and science policies have many difficult problems.

In the third major topic, the conference discussed three issues: First, Vietnam's international integration comprehensively or with a focus on Vietnam's contributions to the world and the region; Second, Vietnam's contributions need to be properly and objectively recognized and evaluated, not only in the globalization period; Third, practical lessons learned for Vietnam as well as many developed and integrated countries facing many intertwined opportunities and challenges.

Associate Professor, Dr. Pham Quang Minh speaking at the conference

Most scholars believe that, in order to develop the economy and society to keep up with advanced countries, Vietnam needs to promote administrative reform, especially public administration, strengthen international cooperation; promote human resource training, develop key economic sectors in line with the trend of international integration... At the conference, many valuable documents on the two resistance wars against French colonialism and American imperialism, on the southwestern border war and the East Sea situation were also published.

Speaking at the closing ceremony, on behalf of the Organizing Committee, Associate Professor Dr. Hoang Van Hien, Rector of Hue University of Sciences, shared: “The international conference “Vietnam - 40 years of unification, development and integration” has ended, but the spreading power of the conference will not stop within the scope of the dynamic and hospitable Binh Duong province because this is the result of a very elaborate, methodical and scientific preparation process by the Organizing Committee, the Presiding Committee and each participating member”.

Prof. Carlyle Thayer (Australian Defense Academy) speaking at the conference

Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Van Hiep, Rector of Thu Dau Mot University, also expressed that after this conference, scientists will have many opportunities to communicate, exchange information and documents on the topic of the conference so that Vietnamese scholars and scholars at home and abroad can continue to make new discoveries and go further on the path to approaching historical truth. Professor, Dr. Vu Minh Giang, Vice President of the Vietnam Historical Science Association, also emphasized: "The profound international nature has increased the quality and scientific value of the conference. The conference is an intellectual highlight of the series of activities leading to the 40th anniversary of the completion of the country's unification".

The workshop is not only an activity to join the atmosphere of commemorating the history of the Vietnamese people, but also a historical and interdisciplinary scientific forum with many opinions and scientific contributions to enhance scientific awareness of the past 40 years of Vietnamese history with great achievements in national unification, innovation for development and the increasingly comprehensive international integration process of Vietnam.