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Gen. Quyet speaks at the conference. |
The conference was chaired by Deputy Defense Minister Senior Lieutenant General Hoang Xuan Chien. The event was also attended by Deputy Chief of the General Department of Political Affairs of the Vietnam People’s Army Senior Lieutenant General Trinh Van Quyet, and Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Vietnam People’s Army Lieutenant General Pham Truong Son.
Comprehensive achievements on basis of innovation and creativity
Accordingly, in 2023, the Central Military Commission (CMC) and the Ministry of National Defense (MND) creatively and innovatively directed the implementation of international integration and defense external affairs according to the Party and State’s guidelines on foreign affairs, reaching comprehensive outcomes in bilateral and multilateral fields. Thereby, defense external affairs proved its role as one of the pillars of the Party, State, and people-to-people diplomacy. In addition, military units worked together to study and make recommendations to the Party, State, CMC, and MND to address arising issues related to military and defense affairs, border areas, and defense relations with other countries.
Meanwhile, meetings and delegation exchanges at all levels, together with many mechanisms such as the deputy minister-level Defense Policy Dialogue and bilateral defense consultations were implemented effectively. In 2023, 25 documents and agreements were signed with 15 partners, paving the way for boosting cooperation with other countries.
Besides, border foreign affairs work also achieved remarkable results, contributing to enhancing defense relations, solidarity, friendship, and trust with neighboring countries. Accordingly, Vietnam worked with Laos and Cambodia to successfully organize the first-ever Vietnam-Laos-Cambodia Border Defense Friendship Exchange at the defense minister level, further boosting political trust and cooperation among the three militaries in general, and the border protection forces in particular, thereby promoting economic development and people-to-people exchange among border peoples.
The settlement of war legacy was implemented, while coordination in searching for U.S. soldier listed as missing in action (MIA) from the war in Vietnam was conducted as scheduled.
The military also attached much importance to multilateral defense external affairs, contributing to promoting initiatives to maintain peace and stability in the region and protecting national sovereignty, which were highly appreciated by other countries, while responsibly participating in defense-military-security cooperation mechanisms led by ASEAN, as well as international security forums. Especially, Vietnam’s participation in U.N. peacekeeping operations was promoted effectively and the Engineering Company Rotation 2 and the level-2 Field Hospital Rotation 5 were sent to U.N. missions.
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Gen. Chien addresses the event. |
Addressing the event, Gen. Quyet noted that 2023 marked a year of success of international integration and defense external affairs. Big regional and international events, both bilateral and multilateral, organized in the year affirmed the responsibility, quality, strong will of the personnel of the Vietnam People’s Army in implementing international integration and defense external affairs work.
Missions for 2024
Agreeing that the work has both opportunities and challenges, Gen. Chien pointed out missions in this field for 2024. Accordingly, units in the whole military, especially those in charge of international integration and defense external affairs work should continue to implement the guidelines and policies on foreign affairs which were mentioned in the Resolution of the 13th National Party Congress, as well as conclusions and directives of the Politburo, Secretariat, CMC, and MND in this field. The military should also invest in and build a contingent of officers working in defense external affairs to meet task requirements in the current context, while organizing activities in celebration of the 70th anniversary of the Dien Bien Phu Victory and 80th founding anniversary of the Vietnam People’s Army, among others.
He also requested functional units to continue to boost dissemination work in this field so as to promote the image and activities of the Vietnam People’s Army in the international arena, at the same time fostering the administrative procedure reform and digital transformation.
Translated by Minh Anh