(VNA) - The week-long 16th Youth and Student Festival in Venezuela closed in the morning of August 16 after launching a final statement.

Nearly 60 forums and hundreds of bilateral talks were held during the event. The festival was  a good occasion for democratic and progressive youth in the world to have an overall review of the struggle against war, poverty and backwardness, for the world of peace, solidarity and prosperity orienting to Socialism.

The statement launched at the end of the festival, affirmed that the youth in the world will continue to show solidarity to fight imperialism and build socialism.

The statement also hailed the struggle for national independence and socialism by Vietnamese youth and people on the 60th anniversary of founding the sovereign Republic of Viet Nam. They also expressed their supports for Vietnamese Agent Orange victims in their struggle for justice.

The statement stressed that recalling the Vietnamese people's victory against imperialism as well as their socio-economic achievements and the experiments drawn from their struggles have made the youth feel optimistic and believe that the youth will surpass difficulties and will win.

The Venezuelan Government paid  particular attention to the festival. President Hugo Chavez was present almost every day to attend workshops and forums at the festival, and made an important speech at a forum to fight imperialism. He highly appreciated and respected Viet Nam's contribution to the festival, and affirmed that Viet Nam has set an example of of socialist construction for other countries to follow.

The Vietnamese delegation left strong impressions to their international friends for their active contribution to the successful festival and created the good image of national development and socialist construction.

The Vietnamese delegation also successfully held forums on the consequences of Agent Orange in Viet Nam and 60 years of independence and socialist construction in the country, and  received strong support from international friends.

The Vietnamese delegation, headed by Dao Ngoc Dung, first Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh Youth Communist Union, held bilateral discussions with head delegates from other countries, including Cuba, Venezuela, Japan and Argentina.