The annual event was organized to review the bilateral defense cooperation over the past year and propose orientations for the next year to report to defense leaders of the two countries.
This year’s consultation took place under a special scenario that the global and regional situations are changing remarkably and all countries are accelerating the post-pandemic recovery.
Despite certain impacts caused by the above-mentioned factors, the defense cooperation between the two countries has always been maintained and developed in line with the Vietnam-Australia strategic partnership, contributing to peace and stability in the region and the world.
At the consultation, Major General Vu Thanh Van and Mr. David Lewis highly appreciated the practical cooperation results that the two sides have achieved over the past year in the fields of COVID-19 prevention and control, delegation exchange, high-level contacts, training cooperation, United Nations (U.N.) peacekeeping operations, experience sharing between the two-armed forces, and mutual support in multilateral defense forums.
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Major General Vu Thanh Van at the event |
Next year, Vietnam and Australia will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations (1973-2023). The two sides agreed to actively research and propose meaningful cooperation activities from now to 2023, focusing on the areas of delegation exchange, high-level contact, effectively bringing into play the existing cooperation mechanisms, strengthening cooperation in training and military medicine, overcoming the war consequences, and so on.
In addition, Major General Vu Thanh Van suggested the two sides enhance cooperation in U.N. peacekeeping operations. Vietnam attaches much importance to this area and the country needs support from various sources both at home and abroad, he added. The Vietnamese officer expressed his thanks to the Australian side and hoped that it will continue giving airlift support for the upcoming deployments and substitutions of Vietnam’s level-two field hospitals to the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) if possible.
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Mr. David Lewis at the event |
The two sides agreed to search for more cooperation mechanisms in their potential and wished fields such as defense industry, cyber security, training, and more.
The two sides consented to study and organize more meaningful activities such as cultural exchange, military sports, meetings of young officers, and dissemination of information about defense cooperation between the two countries.
Translated by Trung Thanh