President Võ Văn Thưởng with officials, officers and people of Phú Quý island.

BÌNH THUẬN – President Võ Văn Thưởng on June 17 attended a flag-saluting ceremony at a sovereignty flag pole on Phú Quý Island, an island district of the south central province of Bình Thuận.

The pole is one of the sovereignty flag poles built on outpost islands from the North to the South as part of projects launched by the Central Committee of the Hồ Chí Minh Communist Youth Union, the Association of Vietnamese Students and the Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV).

Later, President Thưởng planted a bàng vuông (cubic-fruit Malabar Almond) tree which symbolises the strong spirit, vitality, and unwavering love for the Fatherland, its seas and islands.

Also in Phú Quý island district, the President visited and presented gifts and over 1,000 national flags to local fishermen.

He also handed over gifts to officers and soldiers of Radar Station 55 of Battalion 292, Division 337 of the Air Defence - Air Force stationed on Phú Quý Island.

Talking with the Party organisation, administration, officers, soldiers and people of Phú Quý island district, the State leader praised them for building Phú Quý into the first new-style rural district of Bình Thuận and the second island district nationwide to achieve the status.

The President stressed the need to clearly define the task of ensuring defence and security of and firmly safeguarding Phú Quý Island as a top priority of the Party organisation, officers, soldiers and people of the island district along with economic development.

Phú Quý must implement well the task of the rear and an important transhipment point for Trường Sa (Spratlys) and DK1 Platform and serve offshore fishing vessels, he said.

Apart from stepping up the adoption of sci-tech in fishing, seafood preservation and processing, Phú Quý Island needed to pay special attention to the development of tourism as a spearhead industry, offering diverse and quality tourism products and services that reflect the local unique identity, he said. VNA/VNS