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Chief of the General Staff of the Vietnam People’s Army and Deputy Defense Minister Senior Lieutenant General Nguyen Tan Cuong hosts a reception for General Mao Sophan. |
General Cuong congratulated the Cambodian People’s Party on its success during the seventh National Assembly election (July 2023) and the election for the fifth Senate (February 2024); and expressed his hope that under the leadership of the Cambodian People’s Party, the country would gain more achievements, making further contribution to the regional and international arenas.
He also affirmed that Vietnam always attaches much importance to enhancing and developing the good neighborliness, traditional friendship, and comprehensive, sustainable, and long-term cooperation with Cambodia. The Vietnamese defense leader also noted that over the past time, the bilateral defense cooperation has been effectively developed in many fields, such as deploying the 2019-2024 cooperation protocol and the annual cooperation plan between the two defense ministries, sharing common viewpoints on strategic issues; personnel training, cooperation in border management and protection, assisting border people in economic development; supporting each other at forums and multilateral mechanisms.
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Chief of the General Staff of the Vietnam People’s Army and Deputy Defense Minister Senior Lieutenant General Nguyen Tan Cuong hands over a souvenir to General Mao Sophan. |
For his part, General Mao Sophan expressed his delight at the working visit to Vietnam, in the context of the sound relations and bilateral defense cooperation between the two countries. On the occasion, General Mao Sophan conveyed greetings from Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet and Cambodian defense leaders to General Cuong, while informing the Vietnamese deputy defense minister about the results of his previous talks with Vietnamese Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Vietnam People’s Army Senior Lieutenant General Nguyen Van Nghia.
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Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Vietnam People’s Army Senior Lieutenant General Nguyen Van Nghia receives General Mao Sophan. |
Speaking highly of the talks’ outcomes, General Cuong requested that in the time ahead, both sides should focus on many other fields, such as delegation exchange, young officer exchange, personnel training, dissemination and education work about the traditions of the bilateral relations and the two militaries, to name but a few.
General Cuong thanked the Cambodian side for supporting the country in the search and collection of remains of Vietnamese volunteer soldiers and advisors, who sacrificed themselves in Cambodia. On this occasion, General Cuong sent thanks to Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet, Cambodian Defense Minister General Tea Seiha, and Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces General Vong Pisen for attending the 70th anniversary of Dien Bien Phu Victory on May 7, and invited the guest to the second Vietnam International Defense Expo this year.
* Earlier, on June 6, General Nghia held talks with General Mao Sophan.
General Nghia hailed the cooperation between the two militaries over the past time, especially in the fields of delegation exchange, cooperation in border management and protection, consultation and support each other on multilateral mechanisms, and ASEAN-led multilateral mechanisms; among others.
Regarding regional and world situations, General Nghia affirmed the role of ASEAN in regional security structure. He also underscored the need to promote the implementation of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties (DOC) in the East Sea (South China Sea), in line with international law and the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) 1982.
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Delegates in a joint photo |
General Nghia asked both sides to focus on major fields, such as delegation exchange, cooperation in border management and protection, raising the quality of education, boosting dissemination of information about the traditional bilateral relations and the two militaries, and more.
For his part, General Mao Sophan affirmed that Cambodia and Vietnam have the good neighborliness, while the two peoples always stand side by side with each other during their cause of national independence, construction, and development. He hoped to further deepen the bilateral relations and affirmed that the Cambodian side would create favorable conditions for Vietnam to accelerate the search, collection and repatriation of remains of Vietnamese volunteer soldiers and advisors, who laid down their lives in Cambodia.
Translated by Chung Anh