Leaders of many Vietnamese people’s associations attended a memorial service for the late Indian peace figure Romesh Chandra, President of Honor of the World Peace Council, held in Hanoi on 12 July in the Traditions House of the Vietnam Union of Friendship Organizations (VUFO).

Among them were Vũ Xuân Hồng, President of VUFO; Phạm Văn Chương, President of the Vietnam Committee for Asian-African-Latin American Solidarity and Cooperation; Nguyễn Văn Huỳnh, Vice-President of the Vietnam Peace Committee; senior office-bearers of the Vietnam Peace and Development Foundation, Vietnam-India Friendship Association, Vietnam Women’s Union, Vietnam Farmers’ Union, and Hanoi Union of Friendship Organizations.

Nina Tshering La, Deputy Ambassador of India to Vietnam, was also present.

Born in 1919 in Lyallpur, India, Romesh Chandra was one of the most outstanding figures of the world peace movement, and a relentless champion for international solidarity with peoples struggling for self-determination, national liberation and independence.

He made great contributions to the world campaigns to end the U.S. war in Vietnam and in solidarity with the Vietnamese people.

Romesh Chandra passed away on 4 July in Mumbai./.

Researchers and civil society workers from many Asian and European countries attended a workshop in Hanoi on 12-13 May in preparation for the 11th Asia-Europe People’s Forum (AEPF-2016) slated for early July in Ulan Bataar, Mongolia.

Current developments in the South China Sea are threatening seriously regional peace, security and stability, says the VPDF leadership in a recent open letter to international friends and partners. It also calls upon them to help ensure a peaceful settlement of disputes in the region on the basis of international law.

An information sharing meeting on ASEAN and Vietnamese NGOs’ participation in the ASEAN People’s Forum (APF) was held on 20 April in Ho Chi Minh City, organized by the Vietnam Union of Friendship Organizations (VUFO), member of the Vietnamese National Coordinating Committee for APF-2016.