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Defense Minister Phan Van Giang and his Finnish counterpart Antti Hakkanen

At the meeting, the Vietnamese defense leader emphasized that General Secretary To Lam’s visit marks the first official visit to Finland by a senior Vietnamese leader since the establishment of bilateral diplomatic relations in 1973. The signing of a Joint Declaration on establishing a Strategic Partnership during this visit has demonstrated the two sides’ commitment to promoting comprehensive and substantive cooperation that aligns with their respective interests and strengths. This, he noted, provides a solid foundation for advancing bilateral defense relations.

General Giang reaffirmed that Vietnam always attaches great importance to strengthening its traditional friendship with Finland. He expressed appreciation and gratitude for the support extended by the Finnish Government and people to the Vietnamese people during the past struggle for national independence and reunification, as well as in the ongoing cause of national development.

The Vietnamese minister underscored that Vietnam consistently adheres to its “four no's” defense policy and wishes to expand both bilateral and multilateral defense cooperation on the basis of equality, mutual respect, and shared benefit, thereby contributing to peace, stability, cooperation, and development in the region and the world.

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A view of the meeting

Given the rapid, complex, and unpredictable developments of global and regional situation, General Phan Van Giang highlighted the growing challenges posed by both traditional and non-traditional security threats, stressing the need for collective efforts by all countries. He expressed hope that Finland would support ASEAN’s consensus principle. Regarding the East Sea (or South China Sea) issue, he stated that Vietnam hopes Finland will support the stance of settling disputes through peaceful means, based on respect for the independence, sovereignty, and legitimate interests of nations, and in accordance with international law, particularly the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) in 1982.

Recognizing the untapped potential in Vietnam - Finland defense cooperation, the Vietnamese defense leader proposed that the two sides focus on several key areas in the near future, including delegation exchanges, training cooperation, and experience sharing in fields such as defense industry, United Nations peacekeeping operations, cybersecurity, disaster response, and search and rescue. He affirmed that Vietnam is ready to offer Vietnamese language training for Finnish military officers and invited senior officials from the Finnish Ministry of Defense to attend advanced defense training programs in Vietnam.

In the field of defense industry, General Giang expressed Vietnam’s desire to promote mutually beneficial cooperation. He thanked Finland for sending enterprises to showcase products at the Vietnam Defense Expo 2024 and expressed hope that Finland would continue sharing experience and introducing technologies to expand cooperation opportunities. He also noted that the two sides could explore collaboration in unexploded ordnance clearance and war legacy remediation.

For his part, Minister Antti Hakkanen described the meeting with Minister Giang as an excellent opportunity for both sides to exchange views on issues of shared concern, particularly defense and security policies amidst an increasingly challenging global context.

Minister Hakkanen highly appreciated Vietnam’s growing role, position, and achievements in socio-economic development. Emphasizing the significance of General Secretary To Lam’s visit to Finland, he expressed confidence that, along with the flourishing ties between the two countries, bilateral defense cooperation would continue to grow stronger.

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Finnish Defense Minister Antti Hakkanen hands over a souvenir to General Phan Van Giang.

Both sides agreed to further strengthen their traditional friendship and strategic partnership by promoting practical cooperation in several areas, including exchanges of delegations at all levels (especially high-level), defense industry, U.N. peacekeeping operations, training, war legacy settlement. They also emphasized the need to study to establish consultation and dialogue mechanisms and continue mutual support within the framework of Vietnam - E.U. cooperation.

On this occasion, General Phan Van Giang extended an invitation to Minister Antti Hakkanen to pay an official visit to Vietnam at a convenient time.

By Thu Trang (from Helsinki, Finland)

Translated by Tran Hoai