Defence Minister starts visits to four European countries

Vietnamese Minister of National Defence, General Phung Quang Thanh

PANO – A high-ranking military delegation, led by General Phung Quang Thanh, Vietnamese Minister of National Defence, left for Russia on August 6th, starting a visit to four European countries of Russia, Bulgaria, Poland and the Netherlands.

The visits, continuing until August 21st, are made at the invitations of the defence ministers of the four countries.

According to the Ministry of National Defence, these visits are to strengthen the traditional friendship with these countries, including the comprehensive strategic partnership with Russia, and to promote cooperation for mutual benefit between the Vietnamese people and armies and those of the four countries, contributing to promoting peace, stability, cooperation and development in each region and in the world.

Over the years, Vietnam - Russia relations have witnessed positive and effective developments in various fields, including defence cooperation.

The two sides have exchanged many high-ranking delegations in recent years, including official visits to Russia made by General Phung Quang Thanh, Minister of National Defence, in 2008; General Le Van Dung, Director of the General Department for Politics of Vietnam People’s Army, in 2008; and Senior Lieutenant General Do Ba Ty, Chief of the General Staff of Vietnam People’s Army, in 2012. The Russian side also made many official visits to Vietnam, including Russian Defence Minister Anatoly Serdiukov in 2010, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu in 2013, and Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Air Force in December 2012.

Since 2009, the Vietnamese Ministry of National Defence has invited six delegations of Soviet veterans who fought in Vietnam during the war to visit Vietnam and meet their former Vietnamese comrades. These deeds show Vietnam’s gratitude to Soviet veterans from Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and veterans and people from other countries.

Apart from the exchanges of high-ranking delegations, cooperation in terms of training, navy and military techniques is also a driving force to reinforce relations between the two countries.

In terms of cooperation on training, Russia grants over 100 scholarships annually to Vietnam. Moreover, the country also agreed to increase the number of scholarships and broaden training fields for Vietnamese cadets. To ensure long-term cooperation in training for Vietnamese cadets, the two sides plan to sign a five-year plan on training cooperation between the two defence ministries to set the foundation for successfully implementing the training schedule every year.

In terms of naval cooperation, the two sides signed the Memorandum of Understanding on Naval Cooperation between the two defence ministries. This is the legal foundation for the two navies to increase their cooperation. The two sides also established a joint working group and conducted its first meeting to realize cooperation agreements in 2013.

Moreover, Russia continues to be Vietnam’s strategic partner of first priority in cooperation on military techniques, which is managed by an inter-governmental committee. The two governments also signed a protocol on military techniques cooperation strategy through 2020.

In short, the defence cooperation between Vietnam and Russia has seen positive developments, especially in terms of training for Vietnamese cadets at Russian Ministry of Defence training centres. After the official visit to Vietnam by Russian Minister of Defence Sergei Shoigu in March this year, the two sides confirmed the increase of their defence cooperation to a new height.