According to Senior Colonel Thach Thanh Tu, Commanding Officer of the An Giang provincial Military Command, implementing Resolution No.806-NQ/TW of the Central Military Commission, issued on December 31, 2013, on international integration and defense external affairs towards 2020 and the following years, together with well carrying out dissemination and education work among troops and people about national border and sovereignty, for years, local armed forces have focused on organizing exchanges and meetings at each level with Cambodian border protection forces.
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Senior Colonel Thach Thanh Tu, Commanding Officer of the An Giang provincial Military Command, signs a memorandum of cooperation with Cambodian armed forces. |
“Each year, the two sides hold two or three meetings and exchanges at the provincial level, border briefings twice at the district level, and dozens of talks, to together resolve issues along the shared borderline. Both sides also actively conduct joint patrols, search and rescue missions, and natural disaster prevention and control in border areas. Thanks to the close coordination, we have detected and addressed many complicated cases and prevented any plots of hostile forces, contributing to creating favorable conditions for the two peoples to trade, develop economy, and stabilize their life,” said Colonel Tu.
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Both sides conduct a joint patrol. |
To enhance the solidarity and longstanding friendship between the two armed forces and peoples, the An Giang provincial Military Command regularly sends delegations to visit and work with the Cambodian armed forces, and vice versa. They take the occasion to share information about situations in each country, and security in border areas, and sign documents searching for the remains of Vietnamese volunteer soldiers and experts who died in Cambodia, to name but a few, thereby promoting mutual understanding and addressing arising issues in border areas.
So far, the two sides have built and completed five main landmarks, 92 secondary landmarks, and 63 border marker stakes, finishing nearly 54km-long land border demarcation.
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Leaders of the An Giang provincial Military Command present gifts to the Cambodian side. |
Via the defense external affairs activities, since 2013, the An Giang provincial Military Command has made recommendations to local authorities to support the Cambodian armed forces to build and repair barracks, upgrade roads and social constructions, worth totally more than VND 83 billion, provide free health check-ups and medicines to over 2,500 Cambodian people with a total cost of VND 500 million.
Especially, amid the complicated developments of the COVID-19 pandemic, the An Giang provincial Military Command, together with relevant organs, handed over USD 8,000 and medical supplies to support Cambodia in the fight against the disease. In turn, the Cambodian armed forces also assisted and created favorable conditions for Team 93 to search and repatriate the remains of Vietnamese volunteer soldiers and advisors, who sacrificed themselves in Cambodia during the resistance wars for independence.
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Team K93, An Giang provincial Military Command searches and collects remains of war martyrs in Cambodia. |
According to Senior Colonel Chau Chac, Deputy Political Commissar of the An Giang provincial Military Command, since 2001, Team K93 has searched and repatriated more than 500 sets of martyrs’ remains. “We do hope that both sides will continue to promote the special solidarity relationship between the two parties, states and militaries,” he added.
Political Commissar of the An Giang provincial Military Command Senior Colonel Nguyen Thuc Linh affirmed that in the time ahead, the unit will promote education and dissemination work to raise troops’ and public awareness of the border and sovereignty issues, while making recommendations to local authorities to better perform international cooperation and defense external affairs work, share information, and mobilize people to observe laws, among others, contributing to firmly protecting national sovereignty and border security.
Translated by Minh Anh