Switzerland Indochina Conference, 1954 (b/w photo)

The Deputy Defence Minister Ta Quang Buu of Vietnam, right, signed the ceasefire agreement of the Indochina Conference in Geneva on 21 July 1954. The conference, which will be held from 26 April to 21 July 1954, will be attended by France and the Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam countries associated with the French Union, representatives of the Vietminh, the People's Republic of China, the United Kingdom, the United States and the USSR. The conference decides on a ceasefire in Indochina, releases Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam from their state ties to France; agrees on the withdrawal of the Vietminh associations into a northern zone and establishes a demilitarized zone in between. These decisions led to the political consequence of the division of Vietnam.