Senior Colonel Vu Thanh Van, Director of the Department of Foreign Relations under the Vietnamese Ministry of National Defense, and Mr. Huge Jeffrey, Director of the International Policy Division under the Australian Department of Defense, co-chaired the event.
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Senior Colonel Vu Thanh Van, Director of the Department of Foreign Relations, chairs the event in Hanoi. |
This annual event aimed to review the cooperation between the two defense ministries over the past year and roll out cooperation orientations for the following year.
At the meeting, the two sides stressed that despite certain impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, the bilateral defense cooperation has been maintained and enhanced in line with the Vietnam - Australia strategic partnership, contributing to peace, stability, and development in the region and the world at large.
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An overview of the consultation |
They highlighted the organization of online exchanges and contacts, such as the online talks between the two defense ministers on November 8; the implementation of consultation and dialogue mechanisms; cooperation in training, and experience sharing between arms and services and in joining United Nations peacekeeping operations.
At the event, Senior Colonel Van highly appreciated Australia’s cooperation commitment in joining U.N. peacekeeping operations, especially the country’s assistance to transport personnel and equipment of Vietnam’s Level-2 Field Hospitals to South Sudan and its presentation of several equipment to help raise capacity of the Vietnam Department of Peacekeeping Operations’ personnel.
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The two sides sign in the minutes recognizing the results of this consultation. |
The Vietnamese senior officer thanked the Australian Department of Defense for its suggestion to present medical equipment to its Vietnamese counterpart. He hoped that the Australian Department of Defense will continue supporting Vietnamese counterpart in this regard, especially helping it to have access to COVID-19 vaccine sources.
Noting that in multilateral collaboration, Vietnam and Australia are active members of the ASEAN Defense Ministers’ Meeting Plus (ADMM+) and regularly consult with and support each other in regional mechanisms and forums, the Vietnamese military diplomat affirmed that Vietnam supports the comprehensive strategic partnership between ASEAN and Australia. He added that Vietnam highly values the outcomes achieved at the latest ASEAN - Australia Defense Ministers’ Informal Meeting.
In the time to come, the two sides will continue maintaining and strengthening the bilateral defense ties with a focus on organizing more exchanges of delegations at all levels, especially of high-ranking delegations; promoting the efficiency of consultation and dialogue mechanisms; bolstering cooperation in training, U.N. peacekeeping activities, war legacy relief, and between arms, services and military medical forces. They agreed to continue supporting each other at multilateral forums, especially in the framework of ADMM+.
At the event, the two sides updated each other on the building of the three-year cooperation plan for the 2022-2024 period between the two defense ministries and signed in the minutes recognizing the results of this consultation.
Translated by Mai Huong