An overview of the meeting. VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI – Việt Nam and Cambodia have agreed to enhance coordination, step up communications, and encourage people to provide information to improve the effectiveness of the repatriation of remains of Vietnamese volunteer soldiers and experts who sacrificed their lives in Cambodia during wartime.

The agreement was reached at the 24th meeting of the specialised committees of the Vietnamese and Cambodian governments, co-chaired by Sen. Lieut. Gen. Võ Minh Lương, Deputy Minister of National Defence and Chairman of Vietnam's Specialised Committee, and Gen. Pol Saroeun, Government Adviser and Chairman of Cambodia’s Specialised Committee, in HCM City on Friday.

During the 2025–2026 dry season, Việt Nam will maintain 11 search and collection teams operating across Cambodian provinces and cities.

The two sides agreed to enhance collaboration, information sharing, and experiences, directing relevant agencies to review and verify information related to martyrs. They will conduct surveys and evaluate task forces to improve the effectiveness of search, collection, and repatriation work.

Both sides expressed their belief that building on the traditional friendship, good neighbourliness, and long-term sustainable cooperation between Việt Nam and Cambodia, the specialised committees of the two governments will continue to organise the repatriation mission with the highest possible results in the future.

The committees also agreed to continue guiding relevant agencies and localities in building, repairing and preserving Việt Nam–Cambodia Friendship Monuments in Cambodia; managing and using them in line with state regulations and Cambodian customs; and hosting delegations visiting and paying tribute at the monuments, thereby further deepening the friendship between the governments, armies, and peoples of the two countries.

At the meeting, both sides praised the results achieved since the previous session. Despite increasingly limited information on burial sites, the search and repatriation of remains of Vietnamese volunteer soldiers and experts have been effectively carried out. In the 2024–2025 dry season, Vietnamese teams located and repatriated 781 sets of remains.

Throughout the process, the specialised committees, military zones, provinces, and authorities of both countries closely coordinated and promptly resolved difficulties. In particular, Cambodian authorities regularly supported Vietnamese search teams and actively encouraged people to provide information on the burial sites of Vietnamese soldiers and experts.

The two sides signed the minutes of the 24th meeting to establish a foundation for coordinating activities in the near future. Also on this occasion, Sen. Lieut. Gen. Lương, on behalf of the Prime Minister, presented the Vietnamese Government's financial support for 2025 to Cambodia's Specialised Committee. _ VNA/VNS