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Senior Lieutenant General Vu Minh Luong (left) and Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Defense General Tea Banh |
During the meeting, General Luong conveyed greetings of Vietnamese Defense Minister General Phan Van Giang to General Tea Banh. He also congratulated Cambodia on successfully holding the ASEAN national defense-military meetings this year, thereby making important contribution to maintaining ASEAN’s central role.
General Luong hoped that the Cambodian Defense Ministry will successfully organize the 16th ASEAN Defense Ministers’ Meeting (ADMM) and the ninth ADMM Plus this November.
According to the Vietnamese Deputy Defense Minister, the two defense ministries have jointly held big and meaningful events, especially the first Vietnam-Cambodia border defense friendship exchange and the 45th anniversary of Cambodian PM Hun Sen’s “Journey to overthrow the Pol Pot genocidal regime” in Vietnam. Recently, they have also joined an annual meeting among the Lao, Cambodian, and Vietnamese defense ministers and a joint search and rescue exercise among the three militaries.
Over the past time, border stations and border guards have regularly held joint patrols and exchanges to address arising issues, contributing to strengthening the friendship between the two countries' militaries and people, especially in border areas.
General Luong hoped that in the coming time, the Cambodian defense minister would continue to direct the synchronous and effective implementation of the 2022 cooperation plan and contents in the Protocol for the 2020-2024 period, focusing on the exchange of delegations at all levels, personnel training, enhancing coordination between arms and services, and the search and repatriation of the remains of Vietnamese volunteer soldiers who laid down their lives in Cambodia.
For his part, General Tea Banh was delighted at the results of Vietnam - Cambodia defense collaboration amid the complicated developments of COVID-19. He also requested both sides to further promote defense relationship, making it one of the most important pillars of the bilateral ties.
He also thanked the Vietnamese Ministry of National Defense for assisting Cambodia in hosting defense and military meetings during its ASEAN Chairmanship Year 2022.
On the occasion, he also extended his invitation to Minister Phan Van Giang and other leaders of the Vietnamese Ministry of National Defense to attend ADMM, ADMM Plus and related meetings.
Translated by Minh Anh