The Canada-Vietnam Friendship Association held an online programme to screen the documentaries on the life and career of the President and the country’s path to independence and freedom. Celebrating 75 years since the August Revolution and the 75th National Day, the programme was attended by Canadian friends and Vietnamese nationals in the country.

Luis Silva, an expert on government relations, said the films helped him understand President Ho Chi Minh’s key role in the struggle to liberate Vietnam from the rule of France and Japan.

Elizabeth McIninch, Director of the Canada-Vietnam Trade Council, said she was moved by Ho Chi Minh’s burning desire to free Vietnam from the yoke of colonialism and restore freedom to its people.

She noted that the President laid the cornerstone of Vietnam’s economy today, which she called an emerging star in Southeast Asia.

Vietnam is now an important partner of Canada, she went on, which attaches great importance to the Southeast Asian country. Despite the challenges posed by COVID-19, the path ahead will open up endless opportunities for the people of the two countries.

Meanwhile, at a recent discussion with Russia’s Sputnik news agency to mark Vietnam’s 75th National Day, Professor Vladimir Kolotov, Director of the Ho Chi Minh Institute at the Saint Petersburg State University, said Vietnam has achieved enormous successes since the August Revolution and its establishment on September 2, 1945, including victories in resistance wars to liberate the country from colonialism and reunify the nation.

Vietnam is now a sovereign country and has a rapidly-growing economy, he added.

He also highlighted the country’s ASEAN chairmanship and non-permanent membership of the UN Security Council in 2020, adding that with only one "No” vote in the UN General Assembly’s secret ballot to choose non-permanent members of the council last year, Vietnam secured an unprecedented level of support.

These factors have also confirmed Vietnam’s profile and reputation in the international arena, the professor added.

Meanwhile, Professor Vladimir Mazyrin from the Centre for the Study of Vietnam and ASEAN at the Far Eastern Studies Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, spoke highly of Vietnam’s economic achievements during its transition to a market economy, which saw it emerging as a rapidly-developing country.

Vietnam is a rare example of a country succeeding in keeping up with its more developed counterparts in the region and the world, he said, noting that while most regional countries saw a considerable slowdown in growth in the first half of 2020, Vietnam still posted a positive rate.

The professor cited other experts’ forecasts that, by 2050, Vietnam will be among the top 20 countries in the world in terms of GDP growth. It currently stands in 32nd position; a major feat compared to 75 years and 35 years ago, when it was still among the poorest nations.

He expressed his belief that Vietnam will become a developed economy by 2050.