(VNA) - President of the Viet Nam War Veterans Association Dang Quan Thuy said he hoped that US war veterans would continue cooperating with Viet Nam to heal the wounds from the war. He was speaking while receiving visiting President Jan C. Scruggs of the Viet Nam Veterans Memorial Fund (VVMF) in Ha Noi on April 25.

Lieut. Gen. Thuy said the VVMF delegation's visit is timely because the two countries are about to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the normalisation of bilateral ties.

Thuy told his guest that Viet Nam has been holding various celebrations to mark the 30th anniversary of southern liberation and national reunification in order to uphold the people's patriotism in building a prosperous and happy nation and not to stir up hatred between the two countries.

President Scruggs expressed his joy at Viet Nam's rapid socio-economic changes. He took the occasion to offer sympathy to the association and the families of the war veterans who were killed in a bus accident in the Central Highlands province of Kon Tum on April 21 on their way to visit old battlefields.

The same day, the VVMF President was also received by Vice President of the Viet Nam Union of Friendship Organisations (VUFO) Tran Dac Loi who spoke highly of the US veterans' initiatives to promote the two countries' friendship and cooperation and redress the consequences of the war on the Vietnamese people.

He took the occasion to express his deep sympathy for the American families who lost their loved ones in the war.

The vice president affirmed that the Vietnamese people's living conditions have improved although the country has faced many difficulties since the end of the war 30 years ago.

He told his guest that 300,000 Vietnamese people remain missing, millions of others are suffering from wounds caused by the war, while millions of others are victims of the Agent Orange sprayed by the US army.

VVMF President Scruggs, who arrived in Viet Nam on April 24 for a nine-day visit, expressed his deepest regrets for the pains that the Vietnamese people are suffering and his admiration for Viet Nam's tolerance and friendship.