During the meeting, General Phan Van Giang reaffirmed that Vietnam always attaches great importance to its Comprehensive Strategic Partnership with Japan for peace and prosperity in Asia and the world. As bilateral relations continue to deepen, defense cooperation has expanded in both scope and substance, delivering increasingly practical and effective results. Japan is one of the few countries with which Vietnam maintains a full range of defense cooperation mechanisms, including the Deputy Ministerial-Level Defense Policy Dialogue and Staff Officer Consultations among the Navy, Army, and Air Force.
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General Phan Van Giang (right) and Ambassador Ito Naoki |
The Vietnamese Defense Minister highly appreciated Japan’s support in such areas as training, the defense industry, technology transfer, and war legacy settlement. He expressed hope that Ambassador Ito Naoki would continue to facilitate the effective implementation of bilateral defense cooperation, with priority given to high-level delegation exchanges, consultation and dialogue mechanisms, the signing of cooperation agreements, cooperation between arms and services, the defense industry, training, military medicine, cybersecurity, U.N. peacekeeping operations, war legacy settlement, and coordination and mutual support at international multilateral forums, particularly within the ASEAN Defense Ministers’ Meeting-Plus (ADMM-Plus).
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General Phan Van Giang speaks with Ambassador Ito Naoki during the meeting. |
General Phan Van Giang also expressed his hope that Japan would maintain its existing scholarship programs while expanding training opportunities and increasing the number of undergraduate and graduate scholarships in engineering science and technology for personnel of Vietnam’s MND.
He voiced confidence that, building on decades of cooperation, together with the strong commitment and sustained efforts of the leaders and people of both countries, Vietnam - Japan relations would continue to achieve new progress across all fields, serving the shared interests of both nations and contributing to peace, stability, cooperation, and development in the region.
On this occasion, General Phan Van Giang invited leaders of Japan’s Ministry of Defense, the Japan Self-Defense Forces, and Japanese defense industry companies to attend the third Vietnam Defense Expo, scheduled for December 2026.
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An overview of the meeting |
For his part, Ambassador Ito Naoki praised the steady development of Vietnam - Japan defense cooperation and affirmed that he would work closely with Vietnam’s Ministry of National Defense to substantially and effectively implement the agreed areas of cooperation, further strengthening the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership for peace and prosperity in Asia and the world as well as defense ties between the two ministries.
Translated by Tran Hoai