Nguyen Thanh Son, Deputy Foreign Minister and Head of the State Committee for Overseas Vietnamese Affairs addresses press briefing on the 2012 Overseas Vietnamese Youth Camp (www.doanthanhnien.vn)

(VOVworld) - The 2012 Overseas Vietnamese Youth Camp got underway in Hanoi’s Dong Mo outlying district on Thursday. With the theme ‘Coming to the Red Land’, the annual event commemorates the 60th anniversary of the death of heroic martyr Vo Thi Sau, the 150th anniversary of the opening of Con Dao Prison and the 65th anniversary of War Invalids and Martyrs Day, on July 27. More than 170 young campers from 25 countries and territories around the world will take part. During his speech at the opening ceremony, Deputy Foreign Minister Nguyen Thanh Son said that young people overseas are the links that connect Vietnamese nationals with each other anywhere in the world and keeps the Vietnamese language and culture alive. Son who is also the Head of the State Committee for Overseas Vietnamese Affairs, says ‘The summer camp is a chance for young people from overseas and at home to meet up with each other. This activity helps them to learn about the country’s tangible and intangible cultural heritages, and its love for national heroes, which helps them to understand the nation’s heroic traditions better. They will also have the chance to see the changes in the country and feel the emotion that their peers at home have for overseas Vietnamese. ‘Vietnam’ plays an increasingly important role in the world, which every overseas young person can be proud of. It also encourages them to remember their root and contribute to national construction’.

Over the 20-day adventure, the young campers will take part in many interesting and exciting activities. They will also head north to the province of Thai Binh to honour heroic martyrs, offer incense at the Dong Loc Crossroads Monument in the central province of Ha Tinh and honour the heroic martyrs on Con Dao Island.