Minister of Defense, General Ngo Xuan Lich made the statement at a reception for the newly-accredited Thai Ambassador to Vietnam Tanee Sangrat on September 3 at the Headquarters of the Ministry of Defense.
At the meeting, General Lich expressed delight at the fruitful development of Vietnam-Thailand friendship over the past time which has been preserved and nourished by generations of leaders and people of the two countries.
The two sides have established a series of important cooperation mechanisms, including joint cabinet meeting, political consultation between the two foreign ministries, and joint working groups on politics and security. More importantly, they officially lifted their relations to a strategic partnership in June 2013.
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General Ngo Xuan Lich welcomes Thai Ambassador to Vietnam Tanee Sangrat. |
Regarding defense cooperation, over the past time, defense leaders of the two countries bilaterally met and held meetings at multilateral forums. In 2012, the two defense ministries signed a defense cooperation agreement which served as a foundation for the two sides to promote cooperation in different fields, especially in delegation exchange, young officer exchange, collaboration between air forces and navies, training, and experience sharing.
On this occasion, the Vietnamese Defense Minister highly appreciated the important role and active contributions of Thailand to strengthening multilateral relations in general and ties with ASEAN member nations in particular. He believed that Thailand will successfully fulfill its ASEAN Chairmanship role in 2019 and will further contribute to promoting national unity and to building a strong ASEAN Community.
General Lich affirmed that the Vietnamese Government in general and the Vietnamese Ministry of National Defense in particular will continue supporting Thailand’s ASEAN Chairmanship this year while hoping that Thailand will also give assistance to Vietnam when it takes over ASEAN Chair next year.
For his part, Thai Ambassador to Vietnam Tanee Sangrat affirmed that in his new position, he will make active contributions to developing the Thailand-Vietnam strategic partnership, including defense cooperation.
He also thanked the Vietnamese side for its active support for Thailand’s chairmanship of ASEAN and committed to support Vietnam as the country takes ASEAN Chair in 2020 and works as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council in the 2020-2021 period. The Thai Ambassador believed that Vietnam will successfully shoulder the responsibility.
Translated by Tran Hoai