VOV: Could you brief us on the purpose of the competition?

Mr Nhung: First of all, IMO 48 is considered an intellectual sport competition for talented students majoring in maths. The event aims to discover talents of maths from nearly 100 countries and territories, including Vietnam. We hope to promote a movement in which young students and mathematicians are aware of scientific knowledge and maths knowledge in particular in developing other fields. The competition provides a good chance for Vietnam to show off its mathematical capacity and organisational skills and to further attract international friends following its successful organisation of big diplomatic events such as the Asia-Pacific Economic Forum (APEC) meeting, the Francophonie summit, the ASEAN Education Ministerial Meeting as well as its accession to the World Trade Organisation.

VOV: Is there anything special at IMO 48 compared to the previous one?

Mr Nhung: IMO 48 will be biggest ever competition of its kind in the history of IMO. We expect to welcome a record number of students, their teachers and family relatives from nearly 100 countries and territories and around 500 Vietnamese volunteers. In addition, Vietnam’s hosting has attracted new and former competitors. For instance, Cambodia and the United Arab Emirates have registered to join the competition for the first time, while the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea has decided to resume IMO activities after years of absence by sending students to the competition.

VOV: Could you elaborate on Vietnam’s rights and obligations in hosting the event?

Mr Nhung: It is an intellectual sport competition so we have no advantage as the host country. In contrary, our responsibility is heavy. About 50 countries will send a total of 200 tests to the organising board which, together with leading Vietnamese and foreign mathematicians, will select 20 of them. Notably, the 20 selected tests do not coincide with those of the previous 47 IMO competitions as well as those of national maths Olympiads of participating countries. Six official tests will be selected from those 20 tests on July 19 by heads of the participating delegations. Students will do the six tests in two days. Later, as the host country, Vietnam will mark all the tests (around 600 in total) to be done by the students in their languages. Of course, heads of the participating delegations will translate and present the students’ answers. It is a hard work, but will be our pleasure. It is not by chance that Vietnam has won the bid to host the event. Over the past 30 years, Vietnam has always ranked among top ten IMO leaders. In addition, IMO members believe in Vietnam’s organisational skills thanks to the country’s Doi Moi (Renewal) achievements during the past 20 years, as well as its peaceful and safe environment.

VOV: What about Vietnam’s preparations for the event?

Mr Nhung: To date we have completed all preparations for the event. We selected our six best students from secondary schools and universities across the countries. It is worth mentioning that Vietnam won two out of three excellent prizes (42/42 points) at an IMO in Japan in 2003. At the next IMO held in Greece in 2004, Vietnam ranked fourth after China, Russia and the US, with four out of six students winning first prizes. We hope to continue to gain an even higher ranking at this IMO.

As the host country, we have to deal with protocol for the participating countries, including accommodation, travel, visa procedures, as well as security. But everything is ready for the event. The National Conference Centre, which successfully organised the 14^th APEC summit in 2006, will be selected to host the event.

VOV: Do you think we will promote the training of talented students and create conditions for other students to know and join the competition in the future?

Mr Nhung: It is a high-level intellectual competition for talented students. However, we expect to organise exchanges and promotions in schools and the community to focus on young talented students. The Ministry of Education and Training is reviewing national and international competitions for talented students and the system of gifted schools across the country to map out long-term strategies. As an intellectual sport competition, International Olympiads aims to discover and train talented students. But training talented students must come from the national scheme for long-term human resource development. By doing so, we will generate high-end human resources for the nation.