During the talks, General Phan Van Giang expressed his delight at the official visit to the Philippines and thanked the host for the warm reception. The Vietnamese defense minister affirmed that Vietnam firmly adheres to the foreign policy of independence, self-reliance, peace, friendship, cooperation, development, multilateralization and diversification of external relations. The country attaches importance to developing friendly relations with foreign countries, including the Philippines, a neighbor of Vietnam at sea and an active member of the ASEAN Community.
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General Phan Van Giang during the reception at the headquarters of the Philippine Department of National Defense |
For his part, Philippine Defense Minister Gilberto Teodoro affirmed that the Philippines lays great stress on consolidating and further strengthening the strategic partnership with Vietnam, and is determined to promote the bilateral relations in a deep, comprehensive, and sustainable manner, making active contribution to peace, stability, and prosperous development in the region and the world.
Both sides underlined that Vietnam and the Philippines are neighboring countries that share a borderline at sea, and both are active and responsible members of the ASEAN Community. Since the establishment of the diplomatic ties in 1976, the bilateral relations between the two countries have continuously developed in many fields.
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General Giang writing down on the host’s guest book |
Over the past time, the bilateral defense cooperation has seen positive development, achieved many substantive results, and made important contribution to the overall development of the Vietnam-Philippines strategic partnership, especially in such fields as exchange of delegations at all levels; maintenance of consultation and dialogue mechanisms; training, and cooperation between arms and services; coordination and mutual support at multilateral forums and mechanisms, particularly at the ADMM and ADMM+; so on. Both sides highly appreciated the roles and contribution of the two countries within the framework of ADMM and ADMM+ through active cooperation and practical initiatives.
In the time to come, the two sides agreed to do their utmost efforts to deepen the bilateral defense ties in a substantial and effective manner, towards the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the strategic partnership and the 50th anniversary of the diplomatic ties. They will focus on exchanging delegations at all levels, especially high-level ones; maintaining the efficiency of the existing cooperation mechanisms to share views on strategic issues, enhance mutual understanding and trust, and understand more about the needs and the capabilities of each side; coordinating in training; promoting cooperation between arms and services, especially law enforcement forces at sea to address non-traditional security challenges; enhancing coordination and mutual support at multilateral forums and mechanisms, especially ADMM and ADMM+; to name but a few.
The two defense ministers evaluated that there still remains huge potential for both sides to foster cooperation in maritime security and safety, cyber security, logistics, military medicine, defense industry, natural disaster response and search and rescue, and U.N. peacekeeping operations, among others.
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The two defense ministers sign the Letter of Intent. |
At the talks, both host and guest discussed several international and regional issues of mutual concern and agreed on the significance of peace, security, stability, freedom of navigation and aviation in the East Sea (aka South China Sea). They reaffirmed the stance of resolving disputes through peaceful means, in accordance with international law, including the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) 1982, fully implementing the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC), and towards an effective and substantive Code of Conduct in the East Sea (COC). They also emphasized the role of the Ministry of National Defense and the military in dealing with issues at sea.
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The two defense ministers at the press conference |
On the occasion, the Vietnamese defense minister invited his Philippine counterpart to the ceremony to mark the 80th founding anniversary of the Vietnam People’s Army and the second Vietnam International Defense Expo at the end of this year.
At the end of the talks, the two defense ministers signed a Letter of Intent on promoting cooperation in humanitarian assistance and disaster relief at sea; and a Letter of Intent on intensifying cooperation in military medicine.
The two defense ministers then had a meeting with the press to share information about the talks’ results.
Reported by Thu Trang (from Manila, Philippines)
Translated by Quynh Oanh