Deputy Defense Minister hosts Malaysian senior officer

Sr. Lt. Gen. Hoang Xuan Chien hosts Colonel Ahmad Jais bin Tasliman

General Chien emphasized that Vietnam and Malaysia are the two Southeast Asian countries sharing the maritime boundary. He highly valued the outcomes of the multifaceted cooperation between the two militaries over the past time, especially in personnel training, cooperation between the two navies, and cooperation in multilateral forums and ASEAN-led mechanisms.

He also thanked the Malaysian Ministry of Defense for supporting the Vietnamese counterpart during Vietnam’s ASEAN Chairmanship in 2020.

During the meeting, the host and guest agreed that last year, due to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, the two sides were not able to carry out many military-defense cooperation activities. Therefore, they suggested that the two defense ministries consider establishing suitable dialogue mechanisms, including defense policy dialogues at the deputy defense minister level and a joint working group on defense cooperation at the level of Director of the Department of Foreign Relations. These mechanisms will create a good foundation for practical cooperation activities between the two defense ministries.

Sr. Lt. Gen. Hoang Xuan Chien presents a souvenir to the Malaysian guest

They also reached an agreement that after the pandemic is controlled, the two countries will further implement cooperation activities in the fields of personnel training and cooperation between the air, naval, and coast guard forces. They will also soon complete and sign a new memorandum of understanding on bilateral defense cooperation.

For his part, Colonel Ahmad Jais bin Tasliman thanked the host for a warm reception. He expressed his honor to take office in Vietnam and affirmed that in the new post, he will do his utmost to promote the bilateral defense cooperation in a practical and effective manner.

Translated by Mai Huong