Senior Lieutenant General Nguyen Chi Vinh addressing the meeting. Photo: mod.gov.vn
The meeting was co-chaired by Senior Lieutenant General Nguyen Chi Vinh, member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CCCPV), Deputy Minister of National Defense (MND), Head of the MND’s Steering Committee on Vietnam’s participation in the UNPKO, and Ha Kim Ngoc, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Chief of the Inter-agency Working Group on Vietnam’s participation in the UNPKO.
Addressing the meeting, Senior Colonel Hoang Kim Phung, Director of the Vietnam Peacekeeping Center revealed that in 2016 preparations and deployment of forces to participate in the UNPKO were constantly carried out within the framework of the master plan “Vietnam People’s Army’s participation in the UNPKO in 2014-2020 period and the following years.” Accordingly, the Vietnamese officers accomplished their tasks at the UN peacekeeping missions, strictly obeyed all of the UN regulations, and were highly appreciated by the UN, leaders of the UN missions, and their peers.
Senior Colonel Hoang Kim Phung further pointed out that external affairs, international cooperation, training, and education relating to the UNPKO were successfully implemented with expected results.
So far, the Vietnam Peacekeeping Center has basically finalized Phase 1 of the construction plan of its office in Thach Hoa commune, Thach That district, Hanoi and the construction of the center is expected to be completed in 2017.
At the meeting, the participants focused their discussion on shortcomings and lessons learnt to effectively implement their activities in the UNPKO.
Senior Lieutenant General Nguyen Chi Vinh and Deputy Minister Ha Kim Ngoc agreed that the core tasks in the upcoming time are to complete preparations and necessary procedures with the UN to successfully deploy a level-2 field hospital and an engineer company to UN peacekeeping missions; continue to finalize infrastructure of the Vietnam Peacekeeping Center; promote external affairs, especially cooperation on the UNPKO training and experience sharing; establish an efficient and smooth coordination mechanism between the Vietnam Peacekeeping Center and relevant agencies; and organize international conferences and enhancement of foreign language training courses to strengthen capacity of the Vietnam’s peacekeeping force.
Importantly, the co-chairs stressed importance on communications, including a communications plan to popularize and improve populace’s awareness of the meaning, plan, and practical contributions of Vietnam to the UNPKO.
Translated by Ngoc Hung