This statement was made by Senior Lieutenant General Phan Van Giang, Member of the Party Central Committee, Permanent Member of the Central Military Commission, Chief of the VPA's General Staff and Deputy Defense Minister, at a meeting with Admiral Ade Supandi, Chief of the Indonesian Navy in Hanoi on November 29.

Addressing the meeting, General Giang welcomed Admiral Supandi and underlined that Vietnam and Indonesia have witnessed the sound development of defense cooperation over the past time, especially since their signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on defense cooperation in 2010.

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Senior Lieutenant General Phan Van Giang (R) receiving Admiral Ade Supandi 
The host also held that the Vietnam-Indonesia defense cooperation, including in the naval field, considerably contributed to enhancing mutual trust and understanding as well as to deepening the bilateral strategic partnership.

For his part, Admiral Supandi briefed General Giang on outcomes of the previous talks with his Vietnamese counterpart, Rear Admiral Pham Hoai Nam, and added that the two armies in general and navies in particular should foster exchange activities and experience sharing in order to further build up their bilateral ties and contribute to both countries’ relationship for peace and stability in the region.

Having highly valued the results of the meeting between the two naval chiefs, General Giang agreed with Admiral Supandi’s recommendations and pledged to create favorable conditions for further cooperation of the Vietnamese and Indonesian naval forces.

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Rear Admiral Pham Hoai Nam (R) presenting a gift to Admiral Supandi 
Previously, Rear Admiral Pham Hoai Nam hosted a reception for Admiral Supandi before having talks.

The two senior officers highly valued their naval cooperation activities this year, particularly the visit to Indonesia by Rear Admiral Pham Hoai Nam in October and the visit to Vietnam by two Indonesian naval ships. They agreed to take  turns to host annual naval officers’ consultation programs.

Rear Admiral Pham Hoai Nam said that the Vietnam People’s Navy will continuously participate in activities to be hosted by the Indonesian Navy, such as the Komodo multilateral naval exercise, and also send warships on visits to Indonesia. He also asked the Indonesian Navy to share experiences on training and operation of sailboats to their Vietnamese counterpart.

Translated by Van Hieu