ISO: VNM *************************************************************************** The electronic version of this document has been prepared at the Fourth World Conference on Women by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in collaboration with the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women Secretariat. *************************************************************************** AS WRITTEN ADDRESS BY RE. MADAME NGUYEN THI BINH VICE - PRESIDENT OF THE SOCIALIST REPUBLIC OF VIETNAM TO THE FOURTH WORLD CONFERENCE ON WOMEN Beijing, September 4, 1995 Madame President, Madame Secretary-General of the Conference, Your Highnesses, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, Let me, at the outset. express my gratification at joining with thousands of other women who have come to Beijing in their quest for equality, development and peace. Particular praise should go to the People's Republic of China whose vast efforts have made possible the holding of our important Conference as well as the large NGO forum. I wish to sincerely thank the Government of China for inviting me to attend the Conference as well as for the warm hospitality extended to me. In this last world gathering of women of the 20th century, let us together strive to chart the road towards a 21st century that will be more peaceful, more equitable, more prosperous and let us answer the call of the United Nations in the year of its fiftieth anniversary "United for a Better World", a world that will be better for women as well as for all humanity. Madame President, Like many other countries, my country, Vietnam has lived through long years of wars which have ravaged this already-poor land and left behind millions of orphans, widows, disabled and missing-in-action. Vietnamese women. as part of their nation have been tested by harsh trials and countless hardships. They have derived therefrom their exceptional endurance and tenacity, their ability to survive and to persist in their full identity through the storms of life, just like the Vietnamese bamboo tree, which is supple but unbreakable, which bends under the wind but does not break, and which afterwards, stand again as straight and proud as before. However, what Vietnamese women have achieved along and together with men in the past could not be explained if one did not point to their other source of strength drawn from their unique experience of the past, namely their outstanding ability to take their fate in their own hands. to show initiative and creativeness under all circumstances, even the most difficult. Observers however concur in the recognition that the Vietnamese nation. both men and women, while firmly anchored in the past are resolutely turning to the future. Today Vietnamese women are tackling the task of rebuilding and developing their country. To this end they have brought into full play the two strengths which they had displayed during the war. Moreover, they have had to make new and additional efforts to overcome. step by step, the legacies of war and cope with the challenges of the fight against poverty and underdevelopment. Consequently, they are part and parcel as well as active agents in the reform and | renovation process in Viet Nam, which is known as Doi Moi. From my previous experience as Minister of Education and Training, confirmed by many international conferences and symposia as well as studies and surveys at the national, regional and international levels, I have the conviction that the two above-mentioned assets of Vietnamese women cannot be fully enhanced unless due attention is paid to the catalyst and multiplying role of education. We should therefore invest on the education of women, and especially of girls. Quite a few developing countries, particularly in our own region, seem to have reached the same conclusion. Consequently, we do hope that the international community and each developing country will give the necessary priority to the objective of universal education for all women as a decisive factor for development, equality and social justice. I am fully confident that once Vietnamese women as a whole have been equipped with knowledge and know-how, they will actively participate in the move into the mainstream of the socio-economic development of their country and will be within their nation, in a position to make a worthy contribution to building a bright future for Vietnam. Madame President, Madame Secretary-General of the Conference, Your Highnesses, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen. These are some of the thoughts stemming from my heart and also the Vietnamese women’s message of hope and solidarity which I wanted to share with all of you at this Conference. Allow me also on this auspicious occasion to express the sincere gratitude of the people as well as of the women of Vietnam to our friends of yesterday and today for their friendship, support and assistance to us. May our Conference meet the expectations of all women over the world. Thank you for your attention.