Hanoi (VNA) – The respect-paying ceremony forformer General Secretary of the Party Central Committee Le Kha Phieu started onAugust 14 at the National Funeral Hall in Hanoi, Thong Nhat Hall in Ho Chi MinhCity and 25B Hall in the late leader hometown of Thanh Hoa.

Party General Secretary and President Nguyen Phu Trong sent awreath to pay tribute to the late leader.

Representatives from the Party, State, National Assembly,Government and Vietnam Fatherland Front (VFF) came to the National Funeral Hallto pay last respects to former Party Chief Le Kha Phieu.

The delegation from the Party Central Committee was led byPolitburo member and Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc who also headed thedelegation from the Government.

The National Assembly delegation was led by NA ChairwomanNguyen Thi Kim Ngan, while the President delegation was led by Party CentralCommittee member and Vice President Dang Thi Ngoc Thinh.

VFF representatives were headed by Secretary of PartyCentral Committee and President of the VFF Central Committee Tran Thanh Man.

Former Party General Secretary Nong Duc Manh; formerPresidents Tran Duc Luong, Nguyen Minh Triet and Truong Tan Sang; former PrimeMinister Nguyen Tan Dung; and former NA Chairman Nguyen Van An; and other formerParty and State leaders also paid farewell to former Party Chief Le Kha Phieu.

Former NA Chairman Nguyen Sinh Hung also sent flowers to paytribute to the late leader.

Meanwhile at the Thong Nhat Hall in Ho Chi Minh City,representatives from the Party Committee, People’s Council, People’s Committeeand VFF Committee of Ho Chi Minh City as well as former Party, State and VFFleaders in the city led by Secretary of the municipal Party Committee NguyenThien Nhan paid last respects to former leader Le Kha Phieu.

Leading the delegation of Party agencies based in the southto the respect-paying ceremony was Secretary of the Party Central Committee andhead of the Party Central Committee Office Nguyen Van Nen. Leaders of MilitaryZones 7 and 9 also came to pay tribute to the former Party leader.

In Thanh Hoa, the respect-paying ceremony was attended by adelegation from the Central Military Commission and Defence Ministry led byGeneral Luong Cuong, Secretaryof the Party Central Committee, member of the Central MilitaryCommission’s Standing Board and Director of the Vietnam People’s Army GeneralDepartment of Politics.

Comrade Le Kha Phieu wasborn on December 27, 1931 in Dong Khe commune, Dong Son district, thenorth-central province of Thanh Hoa, and resided at 7/36/C1 Ly Nam De, Cua Dongward, Hoan Kiem district, Hanoi.

He started participating in revolutionary activitiesin 1947, and joined the Communist Party ofVietnam on June 19,1949. He was member of the Party Central Committee of the 7th and 8th tenures,member of the Party Central Committee's Secretariat of the 7th tenure,Politburo member of the 7th and 8th tenures, General Secretary of the PartyCentral Committee from December 1997 to April 2001; and Deputy to the NationalAssembly of the 9th and 10th tenures.

After a period of illness, despite thewholehearted care by the Party, State, medical group and his family, he passedaway at 2:52 on August 7, 2020, of serious illness and old age at his home.

Over more than 70 years of his revolutionaryactivities, comrade Le Kha Phieu made great contributions to the gloriousrevolution cause of the Party and the nation. He was awarded with the GoldenStar, an insignia of 70-year Party membership, and many other noble Vietnameseand international orders and medals./.