Lieutenant General Lê Chiêm (right), deputy minister of Defense, and Sieng Lapresse (left), vice chairman of the Cambodian Government Commission, at the 18th session of the Việt Nam-Cambodia Government Commission yesterday in HCM City. VNA/VNS Photo Xuân Khu

HCM CITY — The Vietnamese Government has given US$523,000 to the Cambodian Government to assist in a joint effort to search, excavate and repatriate the remains of Vietnamese volunteer soldiers who fell in the war in Cambodia.
Speaking at the 18th session of the Việt Nam-Cambodia Government Commission yesterday in HCM City, Deputy Minister of Defense, Lieut Gen Lê Chiêm, said the two countries would continue to conduct the search until no information about the burial place of the soldiers can be found.
Chiêm, who is also chairman of the Government Committee of the Government, praised the Cambodian Government and people for their tremendous support in the search for the remains.
Chiêm expressed his confidence in the joint effort, which reflects the solidarity, co-operation and traditional friendship between the two countries.
“The two sides will also encourage people to provide information about martyrs and graves of volunteer soldiers and Vietnamese experts who have died in Cambodia,” he said.
Organisations and individuals with outstanding achievements in the search effort will be commended and awarded by specialised committees of the provinces, military regions and administrations at all levels in the two countries.
Documentary films and books in both Vietnamese and Khmer about the process of coordinating the search will also be disseminated by both sides.
Chiêm said he was pleased with the co-operation between the two countries and the two armies, and was especially satisfied with co-operative work on overcoming the aftermath of war, including searching for remains of Vietnamese volunteer soldiers.
He said this was an important task and that the Party and Government would do their best to co-operate with Cambodia.
Sieng Lapresse, advisor for the royal Cambodian Government, who is vice chairman of the Cambodian Government Commission, said the two sides were preparing to review co-operation between the two committees specialising in the search.
“The sacrifice of Vietnamese volunteer soldiers and experts during periods of war in Cambodia has contributed to bringing independence and freedom to the Cambodian people,” he said. 
In the 2018-2019 dry season, the Vietnamese Collection Teams exhumed and moved 735 soldiers’ remains to Việt Nam and found three mass graves of soldiers, including the remains of one person who could not be identified. — VNS