PANO – The first Vietnam-New Zealand Defence Dialogue took place in Hanoi on November 5th under the auspices of the Vietnamese Deputy Defence Minister Senior Lieutenant General Nguyen Chi Vinh and New Zealand Deputy Secretary of Defence in charge of Policy and Planning, Tony Lynch.

The two sides at the dialogue.

In the open atmosphere, they voiced pleasure at the increasing bilateral defence cooperation achievements over the past years, especially since the signing of a memorandum of understanding on defence cooperation in 2013.

Both General Vinh and Mr. Tony Lynch agreed that in the coming time, they should further promote their relationship, specifically in organizing delegation exchanges at all levels and maintaining defence dialogue and consultation mechanisms, and work closely together at multilateral forums, such as the ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting Plus (ADMM+).

Additionally, Vietnam hoped to receive support and learn experience from New Zealand in the fields of education and training, and UN peacekeeping operations.

* The same day, Lieutenant General Vo Van Tuan, Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Vietnam People’s Army, welcomed a delegation of officers and trainees from the New Zealand Defence Force Command and Staff College.

Head of the delegation, Deputy Chief of the Royal New Zealand Air Force, Air Commodore Andrew Woods, held that their visit to Vietnam this time aimed to increase understanding of the Vietnamese people and army.

The Vietnamese general answered the guests’ questions on Vietnam’s culture and army, and believed that the visit would contribute to heightening mutual understanding between the countries’ people and armies.

Translated by Van Hieu