74th CISM General Assembly and Congress – Ho Chi Minh City (VIE) – Day 2 – PCSC Meeting, Opening Press Conference and Opening Ceremony

HO CHI MINH CITY (VIE) – The second day of the 74th CISM General Assembly and Congress, that is taking place from 22 to 30 April 2019, started with the PCSC Meeting in the morning. The meeting was led by Lieutenant-Colonel Walter Borghino, CISM Sports Commission President, Colonel Luiz Fernando Medeiros Nóbrega, CISM Sports Department Director and Lieutenant-Colonel Rafael Pinheiro, Sports Director Deputy and Sports Committee Manager.

The PCSC Meeting was followed in the afternoon by the Opening Press Conference which was held in presence of CISM President Colonel Hervé Piccirillo, CISM Secretary General Colonel Dorah Mamby Koita, CISM VP Asia Brigadier General Merh Ali Barancheshmesh and Senior Colonel Tran Dang Thanh, Deputy Director General of Military Training Department, Chief of the Vietnamese Delegation to CISM and several representatives of the local and international press.

A CISM delegation, led by the CISM President Colonel Hervé Piccirillo, CISM Secretary General Colonel Dorah Mamby and CISM Vice Presidents met the following High Authorities from Viet Nam for a courtesy call: Lieutenant General Nguyen Tan Cuong, Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Viet Nam People’s Army, Major General Vu Van Sy, Director General of Military Training Department, Lieutenant General Vo Minh Luong, Commander of Military Region 7, Senior Colonel Tran Dang Thanh, Deputy Director General of Military Training Department, Chief of the Vietnamese Delegation to CISM, Lieutenant Colonel Tran Van Loi, Deputy Chief of ASEAN & Multilateral Affairs Division, Foreign Relations Department and Representatives from Sub-Committees of the Organizing Committee.

The Opening Ceremony started in the Convention Center of the Tan Son Nhat Hotel with the presence of the following guests of Honor: Colonel Hervé Piccirillo - CISM President; Colonel Dorah Mamby Koita - CISM Secretary General; Major General Dr. Gianni Gola - CISM Honorary President; the Board of Directors Members; Lieutenant General Nguyen Tan Cuong, Deputy Chief of the General Staff, Viet Nam People’s Army; Lieutenant General Vo Minh Luong, Commander of Military Region 7; Mr. Vuong Bich Thang, Director General of the General Department of Sports and Physical Training, Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism; Mr. Le Thanh Liem, Standing Vice Chairman of Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee; Senior Colonel Tran Dang Thanh, Deputy Director General of Military Training Department, Chief of the Vietnamese Delegation to CISM; representatives of the International Federations; CISM delegates and international and local authorities.

The CISM President Colonel Hervé Piccirillo took the floor for his welcome address: “It is an honor to be here today in Ho Chi Minh City to chair the 74th General Assembly and Congress of CISM. We are delighted that the People's Army of Viet Nam has responded positively to our call for the organization of the CISM Annual Major Institutional Event”. He also added: “Vietnam joined CISM in 1998 and since then has always been a very active country in our organization. Over the past 21 years, Vietnam successfully organized a Steering Committee meeting in 2001, the 21st Taekwondo Military World Championship in 2012, participated in 45 different World Military Championships”.

CISM President also highlighted the warm welcome and the quality of the organization: “I would also like to express my deepest gratitude to the Deputy Chief of Staff of the People's Army, the Commander of the Military Region 7 and the Head of the CISM Vietnamese Delegation, for the excellent organization of this event. From the moment we landed in Ho Chi Minh City, we were all very impressed by the high standards that you set up to organize our events and were totally seduced by your kindness and hospitality”.

After the speech of Senior Colonel Tran Dang Thanh, Chief of the Vietnamese Delegation to CISM, the three following Vietnamese athletes were awarded the CISM Star of Merit as they demonstrated excellence in CISM championship and fidelity to the ideals of CISM: Major Nguyen Thi Thu Ngan, gold medalist at the WMC Taekwondo in Viet Nam 2012; Senior Captain Pham Ngoc Thao, silver medalist at the CISM WMC Taekwondo in Canada in 2008; and Lieutenant Ho Thanh Phong, silver medalist at the WMC Taekwondo in Iran 2014.

Vietnam also presented its order of merit to the following CISM Authorities: CISM President, CISM Secretary General and the four Vice-Presidents.

Finally, to end up the ceremony, the Lieutenant General Nguyen Tan Cuong, Deputy Chief of the General Staff or the Viet Nam People’s Army delivered his speech and declared the official opening of the 74th CISM General Assembly and Congress 2019.

Following the Opening Ceremony, all the participants of this 74th CISM General Assembly and Congress attended an Opening Cocktail.

Tomorrow schedule will feature the continental meetings while in the afternoon, the CISM delegates will have the opportunity to play a football tournament confronting the four continents, the Local Organizing Committee and the CISM HQ.

All the pictures are available on the CISM FLICKR ACCOUNT!

(Source: David Vandenplas, CISM Media and Communication Department)

(Pictures: Maxime Morlet, CISM Media and Communication Assistant & Official CISM Photographer)