Reporter: Could you please elaborate on the significance and outcomes of the first exchange program between the Vietnamese and Indian coast guard forces?
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Crew-members of Ship 8001 visiting the Chennai Maritime Rescue Coordination Center |
Major General Nguyen Van Son: The cooperation between the two coast guard forces has seen tremendous developments since the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in 2015. Recently, members of Ship 8001 of Vietnam’s Coast Guard Region 3 Command visited and exchanged with Indian peers at Chennai port, the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. This was the first-ever visit of a Vietnamese coast guard ship to the South Asian country, marking an important milestone of the bilateral cooperation and reaffirming the two sides’ common goals of maintaining navigation security and safety in related regions. The two sides held exchanges, sports events, and visits to each other’s ships in the spirit of warmth, solidarity and friendship.
The two sides also conducted a joint exercise, which focused on rescue and fire control at sea, to share experience and improve coordination.
On this occasion, the VCG and ICG held the second bilateral meeting to review cooperation outcomes reached over the past years, particularly in all-level delegation exchange, experience sharing, and joint marine exercises.
They agreed to continue fostering cooperation according to the 2015 MoU, specifically to set up communication lines for experience sharing and other collaboration activities.
Reporter: What are the VCG’s major solutions to improving the effectiveness of external relations?
Major General Nguyen Van Son: Embracing the Party’s guidelines, the State’s policies and higher levels’ resolutions on external affairs, the VCG has actively expanded relationships with law enforcement forces of other countries in the spirit of cooperation, development and integration, thus to enhance the Vietnamese Coast Guard’s position in the international arena, contributing to building trust between Vietnam and other countries and a peaceful and stable environment.
The VCG has planned to boost external relations and cooperation with coast guard forces of other countries, especially neighbors, regional countries and traditional partners, in the time to come. Several major cooperation contents are experience and information sharing, navigation security, law enforcement at sea, ship control, to name but a few.
The VCG will focus on raising the effectiveness of bilateral and multilateral activities, continue welcoming ships from traditional friends and visiting other partners.
Through delegation exchanges, the coast guard force of each side had chance to share experience in law enforcement, treatment of environmental pollution and rescue exercises at sea. These activities contributed not only to raising the expertise of the VCG’s troops but also to sending a message of cooperation, development and integration to other foreign friends.
Reporter: Thank you so much!
Reported by Hung Khoa
Translated by Trung Thanh