PANO – General Phung Quang Thanh, Minister of National Defense, on the afternoon of November 12th held a reception for the Italian high-ranking defense delegation led by Mr. Domenico Rossi, Italian Deputy Defense Minister in their official visit to Vietnam for the first deputy minister-level defense policy dialogue.

At the reception, Minister Phung Quang Thanh hailed the achievements of the bilateral relations, including defence cooperation, especially since the two countries upgraded their relations to strategic partnership. The Vietnamese Defence Minister hoped that the two sides will exert more efforts to expand defence cooperation.

General Phung Quang Thanh receiving Italian Deputy Defence Minister Domenico Rossi

For his part, the Italian Deputy Minister Domenico Rossi stressed that the bilateral dialogue’s results will help bring the bilateral defense ties to a new height.

Earlier, in the morning, the first Deputy Ministerial level Defense Policy Dialogue between Vietnam and Italy was co-chaired by Senior Lieutenant General Nguyen Chi Vinh, Vietnam National Defence Deputy Minister, and Italian Deputy Defence Minister Domenico Rossi at the headquarters of the National Defence Ministry.

At the dialogue, the two sides reviewed results of bilateral defense cooperation over the past time and agreed upon the orientation for cooperation in the coming time. Accordingly, the two sides will foster cooperation in various fields such as UN peacekeeping operations, overcoming war aftermath, defense industry, and training with focus on the exchange of military high-ranking delegations and the annual deputy ministerial-level dialogue.

Deputy Minister Nguyen Chi Vinh and his Italian counterpart also exchanged regional and global issues of mutual concern, stressing that all nations should conduct properly and strictly observe international law.

Translated by Huu Duong