Lê Văn Lương, Deputy Secretary of the provincial Party Committee and Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee, attended and presided over the conference at the Điện Biên bridge point.

In the first six months, under the drastic leadership and direction of the Government, the activities of the National Steering Committee, as well as the Steering Committees and their standing bodies at all levels, have smoothly entered into regular operation. They promptly and synchronously deployed task contents, resolved arising snags, and launched the 500-Day-and-Night Campaign, which initially generated a widespread ripple effect, ensuring that multiple targets and tasks were completed on schedule with practical efficiency.

Specifically, search, repatriation, and identification efforts successfully recovered 1,150 martyrs’ remains, organized sample collection at 3,655 martyrs’ graves, and collected 13,457 biological samples from martyrs’ relatives. Furthermore, nearly 53,000 samples were analyzed, and the results of nearly 17,500 samples were synchronized into the national database.

For the final six months of the year, the National Steering Committee set forth 16 core tasks. These include directing the research, formulation, and finalization of legal documents regarding the search, repatriation, and identification of martyrs’ remains, alongside stepping up search and repatriation activities, with a primary focus on domestic areas and regions where extensive information on martyrs’ graves - especially collective graves - persists. Additionally, the committee aims to complete landmine and explosive ordnance clearance in key core zones to serve search and repatriation work, while synchronously deploying the collection, handover, preservation, and storage of remains samples from unidentified graves in martyrs’ cemeteries nationwide.

At the conference, delegates focused discussions on evaluating task performance in the first half of the year, paying special attention to targets, information collection and processing, measures to effectively deploy communication campaigns, the large-scale rollout of remains and relative biological sample collection, and DNA testing organization in the year’s final six months.

In Điện Biên province, leadership and direction have been concentrated on fully disseminating the guiding documents of the National Steering Committee, executing the “500-Day-and-Night Campaign to Boost the Search, Repatriation, and Identification of Martyrs’ Remains” in a synchronous and comprehensive manner.

The provincial People’s Committee directed the provincial Military Command and the Department of Home Affairs to proactively advise the Provincial Steering Committee on issuing and deploying complete plans for collecting remains samples from unidentified graves in local martyrs’ cemeteries to serve DNA testing. By June 23, the entire province had collected samples across 4 out of 7 martyrs’ cemeteries with a participating force of 127 personnel, exhuming 500 out of 4,593 graves, collecting samples from 468 out of 4,593 graves, and leaving 32 out of 4,593 graves unsampled.

Deputy Prime Minister Phạm Thị Thanh Trà underscored that the upcoming tasks remain exceptionally heavy with a massive workload, wide scope, and high standards, whereas many localities still face difficulties regarding forces, equipment, funding, and logistical conditions. The Deputy Prime Minister required each member of the National Steering Committee, the Steering Committees, and their standing bodies at all levels to continue deeply grasping the purpose, meaning, and vital importance of the mission.

Deputy Prime Minister Phạm Thị Thanh Trà stated: “It is critical to focus on accelerating and comprehensively executing the tasks of the 500-Day-and-Night Campaign with high efficiency, boosting domestic and overseas search and repatriation activities with a primary focus on domestic lands and areas where extensive information on martyrs and their graves remains. Furthermore, we must complete landmine and explosive ordnance clearance to facilitate search and repatriation for unidentified graves in cemeteries, while urgently finalizing and synchronizing the national database on martyrs, martyrs’ graves, and their relatives to ensure it remains precise, complete, clean, and live.”