Deputy Prime Minister Vũ Đức Đam called on agencies involved in the search for martyrs’ remains to set forth plans to fulfill targets set for 2018.— VNA/VNS Photo An Đăng

HÀ NỘI — Deputy Prime Minister Vũ Đức Đam called on agencies involved in the search for martyrs’ remains to set forth plans to fulfill targets set for 2018.

Đam, also head of the National Steering Committee for Search and Collection of Martyrs’ Remains, said on Monday at a conference to review tasks for 2017 and define tasks for 2018 that all channels and sources of information should be used to bring fallen soldiers to their final resting places.

A database should be completed in order to find the martyr’s remains accurately, he said.

He urged provinces and cities to pay attention to search and collection work.

At the conference, Deputy Prime Minister Vũ Đức Đam praised the efforts of the defence ministry, the steering committee and other concerned agencies, especially officials and soldiers directly involved in the search and collection of remains.

The pilot implementation of a search map, the collection of martyr’s remains as well as the database of martyrs and martyr’s graves were deployed actively this year, he said.

Lieutenant General Đỗ Căn, Deputy Chairman of the General Political Department of the Việt Nam People’s Army, also a member of the Steering Committee, said in 2017, as many as 2,368 martyrs’ sets of remains were found, 95 per cent of this year’s target.

Of the figure, 1,156 sets of remains were recovered in Việt Nam, 338 were found in Laos and the rest in Cambodia

The Ministry of Defence has handed over more than 500,000 records of martyrs to the Ministry of Information and Communications to integrate into a national database.

International co-operation in the search for and repatriation of martyrs’ remains continues to expand, he said.

Next year, the Steering Committee aims to complete the list of martyrs, integrate the national database of martyrs and martyrs’ graves and collect about 2,000 sets of remains, including about 1,200 sets in Việt Nam.

At the event, the Steering Committee also launched a website at https://thongtinlietsi.gov.vn to enhance the management of martyrs’ information.

The website is expected to facilitate the searching for martyrs’ information and the exchange of information between the Ministry of Defence and the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs. It also allows martyrs’ relatives to send requests and provide information to agencies. — VNS