12th National Vietnamese Women’s Congress opened

Participating in the Congress are 1,153 official delegates representingwomen from all walks of lifeacross the country.

The Congress was honored to welcome the leaders and former leaders of the Party, the State, the National Assembly and Vietnam Fatherland Front; Members and former members of the Politburo and Secretary of the Party’s Central Committee; Deputy Prime Ministers, Vice Presidents of the National Assembly, Vice Presidents of Vietnam; Leaders of Ministries, Departments, Unions, Agencies at central level and Hanoi authority; Representatives of provincial leaders; Female members of the Party’s Central Committee cum secretaries and deputy secretaries of provincial or municipal Party Committee; Female members of the 11^th Central Committee of the Party; Female vice ministers and equivalent; Vietnamese Hero Mothers; Female representatives of the Hero Women of the People’s Armed Forces and Labor Hero; Revolutionary war veterans; Women leaders of the VWU through various periods; Representatives from the Associations which have brotherhood relationship with the VWU. The Congress received many congratulatory bouquets of flowers and welcomed the children of Hanoi city to congratulate the Congress.

Mr. Nguyen Phu Trong - the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam, Mr. Tran Dai Quang – President of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, Mr. Nguyen Xuan Phuc – Prime Minister of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, Mrs. Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan – Chairwoman of the National Assembly of Vietnam and Mr. Nguyen Thien Nhan – Chairman of the Central Committee of the Vietnam Fatherland Front participated and directed the Congress.

Speaking at the opening session of the Congress, Mrs. Nguyen Thi Thu Ha- the Party Central Committee’s Member, VWU President of the 11^th tenure said the Congress will review the implementation of Resolution of the 11^th Congress; define the orientation and tasks for the 2017-2022 term; adopting the amended Charter of the Vietnam Women's Union; elect members of the 12^th Central Committee of the VWU with true political quality, morality, wisdom and leadership capacity to fulfill the great tasks of the women's movement and the work of the VWU in the coming time.

Mrs. Thu Ha expressed her deep respect and gratitude to the beloved President Ho Chi Minh who always deeply cared about the cause of women's liberalization,having been encouraging and inspiring spiritually Vietnamese women of different generations; showed deep gratitude to the hero martyrs, the generations of cadres, members, women who devoted and sacrificed for the cause of national liberalization and the advancement of women; thanked the Party, State, ministries, committees, branches, unions at central and local level for their paying attention to gender equality, the advancement of women and 87 years of the VWU’s establishment and development. At the same time, she affirmed that the 12th National Vietnamese Women’s Congress is the Congress with the theme "Solidarity - Renovation - Equality - Integration" and the congress of determination, enthusiasm, responsibility and aspiration of dedication of the staffs, members and all strata of women nationwide.

Speaking at the Congress, the General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Nguyen Phu Trong congratulated and praised the great achievements of the women's movement and the VWU. He acknowledged that over the past five years, the women’s movements continued to develop, contributing to accelerating the cause of nationalrenovation, development and defense. The VWUcontinues upholding its crucial role in women work and gender equality cause, better performing its functions of representing and protecting legitimate rights and interests of women, serving as a bridge connecting the Party and women, contributing to building the great national unity, a strong and transparent Party and political system.

The General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong believed that after the Congress, the women's movement andVWU’s activities will develop further, contributing to the successful implementation of the Resolution of the 12^th Party Congress, building a more prosperous, democratic, civilized nation to firmly step upto socialism.