Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong on September 2 offered incense to commemorate late President Ho Chi Minh on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the August Revolution and National Day. The Party chief visited House No. 67 at the President Ho Chi Minh Relic Site in the Presidential Palace where the great leader lived, worked and passed away. Talking to the site’s staff, he said this year marks 70 years of the August Revolution (August 19) and National Day (September 2), as well as the 46 th anniversary of President Ho’s death. The Declaration of Independence that President Ho read on September 2, 1945 giving birth to the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, the first independent state in Southeast Asia, is an immortal document which crystallises the great ideologies on national independence and liberty as well as the pursuance of happiness, freedom and equality for all people, he stressed. He noted that Vietnam is now conducting all-level Party congresses in preparation for the 12 th National Party Congress scheduled for early next year, citing the enhancement of public awareness of Ho Chi Minh Thought and the selection of talented and virtuous Party officials as decisive factors for the nation’s success. The same day, the Party leader attended an exhibition highlighting the country’s seven-decade socio-economic achievements. Over the past 70 years, Vietnam has risen from a poor and backward country to become a middle-income developing nation. The country is among the top exporters of farm produce, contributing to ensuring global food security, and a bright spot in poverty reduction and the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals, which are hailed internationally. From a self-sufficient country, Vietnam has become a dynamic socialist-oriented market economy and part of the global economy with total import-export turnover of nearly 300 billion USD, nearly 1.5 times the total gross domestic product (GDP). Vietnam has economic-trade relations with most nations in the world and is an attractive destination for investors from over 100 countries and territories, who have injected almost 300 billion USD into some 20,000 projects in Vietnam. At the exhibition, the Party General Secretary visited the pavilion of the Vietnam News Agency (VNA), a major State-run press agency with its 70-year tradition with the national development. He showed particular interest in the agency’s photos, documents and publications that vividly demonstrate its establishment and development. The VNA has more than 60 news and information products and is a supplier of information for most of the nation's media. It boasts 63 representative offices nationwide and 30 offices in five continents worldwide.-VNA