PANO - A Vietnamese high-ranking military delegation, led by Lieutenant-General Nguyen Chi Vinh, Deputy Defence Minister, paid a working visit to the United Kingdom (UK) between November 23rd and 25th at the invitation of the UK Defence Minister.

Lieutenant-General Nguyen Chi Vinh and Lord Astor of Hever, Parliamentary under Secretary of State for Defence, had discussed measures to boost the bilateral defence cooperation on the basis of the Vietnam-UK strategic partnership relations.

They also exchanged views on regional and international security issues. The UK side took serious interest in the Asia-Pacific and highly appreciated Vietnam’s role in this area and hoped that Vietnam would continue its development orientations to contribute to regional peace and stabilisation.

On this occasion Lieutenant-General Nguyen Chi Vinh passed the invitation of visiting Vietnam from Defence Minister, General Phung Quang Thanh to UK Defence Minister and Lord Astor.

Also on this occasion the two leaders signed a Defence Co-operation Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), serving as a framework to foster bilateral cooperation. The two sides also agreed to set up a joint working group to boost the implementation of the MoU on the three topics of defence strategic research, defence cooperation and defence industrial cooperation.

The newly-signed MoU plays an important role in the Vietnam-UK defence cooperation development for the sake of two nations, demonstrating Vietnam’s defence policy, following the spirit “Taking the initiative in international integration” set by the 11th National Party Congress.

During his visit, Lieutenant-General Nguyen Chi Vinh visited the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst, some defence industrial agencies and military units under the British Army.

Translated by Van Hieu