Present there on invitation were the deputy prime minister of Vietnam who doubles as foreign minister, the chairman of the National Council of the National Assembly, the permanent vice-chairman of the Commission for External Affairs of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam, a vice foreign minister, a deputy chief of the General Staff of the Vietnam People's Army, the permanent vice-chairman of the Vietnam Union of Friendship Organizations, the chairman of the Vietnam-DPRK Friendship Association and other personages of various circles.

Speeches were made there.

Pham Gia Khiem, deputy prime minister of Vietnam who doubles as foreign minister, said the Vietnamese people were pleased to note that the friendly and cooperative relations between Vietnam and the DPRK provided by President Ho Chi Minh and President Kim Il Sung have steadily grown stronger.

The Vietnamese party, government and people have always set store by the good relations of friendship and cooperation with those of the DPRK, and hoped that these ties would be developed in the interests of the two peoples as required by the new century to contribute to the peace and security, cooperation and development in the Asia-Pacific region and the rest of the world, he noted.

Expressing expectation that the Vietnam-DPRK relations would achieve fresh development in 2010 thanks to the concerted efforts of the two parties, governments and peoples, he continued:

The Vietnamese people are greatly pleased with the great successes made by the fraternal Korean people in the nation-building.

He sincerely hoped that the fraternal Korean people would register new greater successes under the leadership of the Workers' Party of Korea headed by General Secretary Kim Jong Il and thus successfully open the gate to a thriving nation in 2012, the centenary of the birth of Kim Il Sung.