PANO - Vietnam and Australia will hold annual Strategic Dialogue at the Defence Minister level, starting from 2013, the Vietnamese Defence Minister, General Phung Quang Thanh and visiting Australian Defence Minister Stephen Smith agreed at their talks on August 29th in Hanoi.
Australian Defence Minister Stephen Smith arrived in Hanoi on August 29th, beginning his official visit to Vietnam at the invitation of the Vietnamese Defence Minister.
Vietnamese Defence Minister, General Phung Quang Thanh, and his Australian counterpart Stephen Smith had talks.
After the talks, the two Defence Ministers met with the press, including domestic and international reporters at the Defence Ministry Headquarters.
General Thanh highly valued the visit in saying that the visit serves to deepen the comprehensive partnership that both countries share, as well as the two defence ministries in particular.
Meanwhile, the guest highlighted that this was the third official visit by Australian Defence Minister to Vietnam since the two countries set up defence ties.
The two ministers informed reporters of the outcomes of their talks, in which they reviewed defence ties and exchanged measures to strengthen and promote the relationship on the basis of the Memorandum of Understanding on Defence Cooperation signed in 2010.
Both expressed pleasure with the results of the bilateral defence ties over the past years, especially in training cooperation of English skills for Vietnamese cadets and officers, exchange visits of naval forces, exchange views on security in Asia-Pacific on the basis of mutual respect, effectiveness and mutual benefit.
The Defence Ministers also noted that the two sides discussed further cooperation in UN peace-keeping, commando force training, friendly exchange visits of naval ships and natural disaster relief.
General Thanh also asked the Defence Ministry to assist Vietnam in overcoming the aftermath of the past wars.
Answering questions from the People’s Army Newspaper about personnel training cooperation, Minister Stephen Smith said that the Australian Defence Minister receives some 100 Vietnamese defence personnel to study in Australia every year in recent years and that Australia would provide more courses, especially long ones, for Vietnamese defence personnel.
Regarding regional security, the visiting Defence Minister said that any potential conflicts and disputes should be solved in peaceful manner and on the basis of international laws and the UN 1982 Convention on the Law of the Sea. He underlined that the issues should be discussed and solved in regional forums, such as the East Asia Summit and ADMM+.
Earlier, an official solemn reception of the visiting Defence Minister was held in the Vietnamese Defence Ministry Headquarters with the participation of a number of senior Vietnamese Defence officials.
Translated by Thu Nguyen