Minister David McGuinty highlighted that Canada always highly values Viet Nam’s role and position in the region, as well as the development of bilateral relations, with defense cooperation being an important pillar that has achieved many positive results.
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Canadian Minister of National Defense David McGuinty receives General Phan Van Giang. |
For his part, General Phan Van Giang affirmed that Viet Nam attaches importance to its relations with Canada. He highly appreciated the outcomes of bilateral defense cooperation in recent times, which have been effectively implemented based on the consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries and the two defense ministries, as well as existing cooperation agreements.
The two sides agreed that the elevation of Viet Nam-Canada relations to a Strategic Partnership during this high-level visit marked an important milestone, creating favorable conditions for further promoting cooperation in various fields, including defense.
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General Phan Van Giang reviews the guards-of-honor of the Canadian Armed Forces. |
On that basis, General Phan Van Giang proposed that the two sides continue promoting practical and effective defense cooperation, focusing on exchanges of delegations at all levels, especially high-level delegations, dialogue and consultation mechanisms, training, U.N. peacekeeping operations, cooperation among military services, search and rescue, cybersecurity, border management, defense industry, and overcoming war aftermath.
The two sides should also continue consultations and mutual support at multilateral defense and security forums, particularly the ASEAN Defense Ministers’ Meeting Plus (ADMM+), where Canada is an observer.
Exchanging viewpoints on regional and international situations, General Phan Van Giang added that Viet Nam consistently pursues an independent, self-reliant, peaceful, friendly, cooperative, and development-oriented foreign policy, while diversifying and multilateralizing its relations.
Viet Nam wishes to be a reliable friend and partner of all countries and firmly adheres to its “Four No’s” defense policy.
Regarding the East Sea (aka South China Sea) issue, General Phan Van Giang affirmed that Viet Nam consistently advocates resolving disputes by peaceful means on the basis of respect for international law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), fully implementing the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC), and striving for the early conclusion of a substantive and effective Code of Conduct in the South China Sea (COC).
On this occasion, General Phan Van Giang thanked the Canadian Department of National Defense and the Canadian Armed Forces for providing scholarships for Viet Nam under the Military Training and Cooperation Program (MTCP), contributing to improving the foreign language proficiency and international integration capacity of officers of the Vietnam People’s Army.
He expressed his hope that Canada would continue supporting scholarships for language training and military training. In return, the Ministry of National Defense of Viet Nam is ready to receive Canadian officers to study Vietnamese language and attend the International Defense Official course.
General Phan Van Giang also welcomed leaders of the Canadian Department of National Defense, the Canadian Armed Forces, and Canadian defense enterprises to attend and display products at the third Viet Nam Defense Expo, scheduled to take place in Ha Noi this December.
Assessing the great potential for bilateral defense cooperation, Minister David McGuinty affirmed that Canada would continue working to promote increasingly substantive and effective cooperation between the two defense ministries.
He also affirmed that Canada would continue supporting Viet Nam’s more active participation in U.N. peacekeeping operations.
Translated by Minh Anh