Training course on U.N. staff affairs opened for officers

Senior Colonel Nguyen Nhu Canh, VNDPKO Deputy Director, chaired the opening ceremony.

An overview of the event

The event saw the presence of representatives from the Vietnamese Ministry of National Defense and the General Staff’s affiliates, the U.S. defense attaché in Hanoi, other defense attachés of countries whose officers are the course’s trainees, representative of the U.S. Office of Defense Cooperation in Hanoi, six instructors, and 27 trainees.

Senior Colonel Nguyen Nhu Canh, VNDPKO Deputy Director speaks at the event.

Addressing the event, Colonel Canh emphasized that the course aims to provide the trainees with basic military staff-related knowledge and skills at U.N. peacekeeping missions’ headquarters level, contributing to enhancing the friendship and cooperation between Vietnam and the U.S., and other international partners in U.N. peacekeeping operations.

Delegates in a joint photo

The Vietnamese officer asked Vietnamese instructors to take this chance to learn experience from foreign peers. He also requested trainees to actively study and practice to acquire more knowledge and experience to apply them in their future duties.

During the course which will end on May 26, the trainees, including five foreigners, will learn basic knowledge of U.N. and U.N. peacekeeping activities; functions, tasks of and coordination mechanisms among staff agencies at a U.N. mission’s headquarters. They will also practice developing plans according to each staff agency’s functions, and plans on integrated combat and command on sand table.

In his speech, Julian Duncan, one of the four instructors from GPOI said that working with a multinational force at a U.N. mission’s headquarters will be always a big challenge for every staff officer. Therefore, the target of the course is to equip the trainees with necessary knowledge to help them feel confident in duty performance. 

Translated by Mai Huong