At the symbolic ribbon-cutting event held as part of the inauguration ceremony. — VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI — A building for preserving remains of Vietnamese volunteer soldiers who had laid down their lives during wartime in Cambodia was inaugurated at a ceremony held on January 31.

Located in the Cambodian northwestern province of Pailin, its construction worth approximately US$18,000 began on December 29 last year and was funded by Metfone, eMoney, and GIS Cambodia – affiliates of Vietnam's telecoms group Viettel in Cambodia.

Speaking at the ceremony, Metfone CEO Cao Manh Duc stated that over 45 years ago, Vietnamese volunteer soldiers stood shoulder to shoulder with the Kampuchean United Front for National Salvation to conduct a campaign to rescue Cambodia from the genocidal Pol Pot regime. In this battle, tens of thousands fell, with the remains of many of them lying across various Cambodian provinces and cities.

Duc noted that Metfone and with partner enterprises have so far constructed two memorial houses of this kind in Battambang and Kampong Thom provinces.

General Ek Sam Oun, Commander of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces’ 5th military region, who also attended the inauguration ceremony, told

the Vietnam News Agency correspondent in Cambodia, that the Cambodian people remember the significant sacrifices made by Vietnamese volunteer soldiers. He also emphasised Cambodia's duty to collaborate with Vietnam in locating their remains to send them back to their families and homeland.

Over the past two decades, Team K73 of Việt Nam’s Long An Military Command have left their mark across Svay Rieng, Phnom Penh, Battambang, and Pailin, searching for and repatriating over 2,000 sets of remains of Vietnamese soldiers. — VNS