Vietnam's Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung speaks at a military parade as part of the 40th anniversary of the liberation of South Vietnam and National Reunification in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, April 30, 2015.[Photo/Agencies]

HO CHI MINH CITY -- A grand meeting was held here on Thursday morning to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the liberation of South Vietnam and National Reunification, one of the country's most important events of the year.

The meeting was attended by Vietnamese party and state leaders, including General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) Nguyen Phu Trong, President Truong Tan Sang, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, National Assembly Chairman Nguyen Sinh Hung, President of the Vietnam Fatherland Front Nguyen Thien Nhan, and HCM City Party Secretary Le Thanh Hai.

Former Vietnamese party and state leaders and local high-ranking officials were also present at the meeting, besides foreign guests including high-ranking officials from Laos, Cambodia and Cuba, delegations of foreign diplomatic corps, representatives of overseas Vietnamese community, local and foreign press reporters, and local residents.

Addressing the meeting, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung said that the victory on April 30, 1975, marked a new charter in Vietnam's glorious history of national construction and defense.