Opening Ceremony of the Cycling for Peace Festival

Việt Nam•29/06/2024

(Vietnam E-Portal) This morning, June 29, 2024, at the Hien Luong - Ben Hai National Special Monument, Quang Tri province, in coordination with Thanh Nien Newspaper, held the opening ceremony of the Cycling for Peace Festival. This event marks the beginning of the first ever National and international-scale Festival for Peace held in Quang Tri. Attendees included Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Hoang Nam, Head of the Organizing Committee of the Festival for Peace; Director of the Department of Physical Education and Sports Dang Ba Viet; Editor-in-Chief of Thanh Nien Newspaper Nguyen Ngoc Toan; and Head of the Cycling Movement Committee of the Vietnam Cycling and Motor Sports Federation Le Thi Sen.

Delegates and students stood on the old Hien Luong bridge to welcome the athletes.

The Cycling for Peace event attracted 600 athletes from 60 cycling clubs across the country, as well as 4 cycling clubs from Laos, Cambodia, and Thailand.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Hoang Nam, Head of the Organizing Committee of the Festival for Peace, emphasized: The Festival for Peace is a national and international-scale cultural, sports, and tourism event, being held for the first time in July 2024, coinciding with the 70th anniversary of the signing of the Geneva Agreement on the cessation of war and restoration of peace in Indochina on July 21 (1954 - 2024), and the 77th anniversary of the War Invalids and Martyrs Day on July 27 (1947 - 2024). This is an important event leading up to the 50th anniversary of the Liberation of the South and National Reunification on April 30 (1975 - 2025). The Cycling for Peace event is a key part of the 2024 Festival for Peace, aiming to contribute to building a message toward a peaceful, stable, and prosperous world amidst the complex developments currently taking place globally.

Delegates and athletes participate in the flag-raising ceremony at Hien Luong Monument.

The Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee hopes that at the 2024 Cycling for Peace Festival, visitors will experience special emotions and have exciting experiences, discovering the unique tourist destinations of Quang Tri with a colorful landscape bestowed by nature and created by human hands. A friendly and hospitable Quang Tri will be a destination that visitors cannot miss and will cherish on the Vietnamese tourism map.

To ensure the success of the Cycling for Peace Day, befitting its intended purpose and significance, the Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee requested the Organizing Committee to thoroughly understand and strictly implement the objectives, requirements, regulations, and assigned tasks; to uphold responsibility, make every effort, and fulfill the task of directing, organizing, and managing the Day in a scientific, harmonious, effective, and absolutely safe manner.

Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Hoang Nam, Head of the Organizing Committee of the Festival for Peace, delivered a speech at the ceremony.

The participating forces need to prepare thoroughly and organize well the activities of gratitude and remembrance in the localities; thereby further igniting the revolutionary spirit, encouraging all strata of the people, cadres, soldiers, especially the younger generation, to continue striving to achieve even greater results in the cause of building and defending the socialist Vietnamese Fatherland.

At the opening ceremony, Editor-in-Chief of Thanh Nien Newspaper, Nguyen Ngoc Toan, stated that the cycling movement has developed strongly over the years. However, a large-scale competition has not yet been organized in Quang Tri. This is also the reason why the idea of the "Cycling for Peace Festival" was born. More than that, the Organizing Committee hopes that the festival will honor the value of peace, commemorate and express gratitude, and serve as an opportunity to introduce some typical historical sites in the province; to promote the image of the culture, land, and people of Quang Tri to people at home and abroad, and to showcase the aspiration for peace of the Vietnamese people in general and the people of Quang Tri in particular.

Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Hoang Nam, Head of the Organizing Committee of the Festival for Peace, presented the flag to the Organizing Committee of the Cycling for Peace Day.

The athletes parade across the old Hien Luong Bridge.

In a vibrant atmosphere, on the historic Hien Luong Bridge, as 70 students released doves and delegates launched balloons into the sky, 600 athletes began their parade and cycling event for peace. Crossing the Hien Luong Bridge, a place that commemorates the painful 21-year division of the country (1954-1975), the cycling parade proceeded to the Truong Son National Martyrs Cemetery (Gio Linh District) and concluded at Fidel Park (Dong Ha City).

At Truong Son National Martyrs' Cemetery, the delegation offered incense to pay tribute to the heroic martyrs and presented gifts to families who contributed to the revolution and to students from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Hoang Nam and Editor-in-Chief of Thanh Nien Newspaper Nguyen Ngoc Toan presented gifts to families who rendered meritorious services to the revolution and students from disadvantaged backgrounds.

At Fidel Park, athletes and delegates will sign and write messages on the festival's symbolic flag. The flag, measuring 54 square meters (representing the 54 ethnic groups of Vietnam), features a main motif: a dove holding a rice stalk, symbolizing the aspiration for peace, prosperity, and happiness, along with a multicolored silk ribbon: red and yellow representing the national flag; red also representing the blood of the heroic martyrs who sacrificed themselves for today's peace; and blue representing peace, the color of rebirth and development. This flag will then be sent to the National UNESCO Committee as a message from those who cherish peace.