Vietnam, New Zealand agree to boost defense ties

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General Ngo Xuan Lich (right) receiving the New Zealand's defense mission

At the reception for the mission, General Ngo Xuan Lich highly valued the results of the earlier talks co-chaired by Deputy Defense Minister, Senior Lieutenant General Nguyen Chi Vinh, and the New Zealander Secretary of Defense. The defense minister held that Vietnam - New Zealand bilateral defense ties have seen encouraging achievements over the past time in implementing cooperation deals within the framework of the Memorandum of Understanding on Defense Cooperation signed in 2013. He proposed that based on the results of the mission’s visit to Vietnam this time, a cooperation plan be mapped out in accordance with demands and potentials of each side, especially focusing on such fields as sharing of experiences in joining UN peacekeeping operations, search and rescue, natural disaster consequence mitigation, training, information sharing, and more.

The two sides at the talk 

Earlier, Senior Lieutenant General Nguyen Chi Vinh and New Zealand’s Secretary of Defense Helene Quilter co-chaired the talks between the defense missions of the two countries. In the frank and open atmosphere, the two sides exchanged views on regional and international issues of mutual concern and proposed approaches to boost bilateral defense cooperation. 

Accordingly, the two sides agreed to increase exchange of delegations; actively bring into play existing dialogue mechanisms; enhance language training cooperation and sharing of experiences in joining UN peacekeeping operations and search and rescue; and boost consultancy and cooperation in the framework of the ASEAN Defense Ministers’ Meeting Plus (ADMM+) and other multilateral forums.

* Also on the afternoon of July 26, General Ngo Xuan Lich held a courtesy reception for US Ambassador to Vietnam Ted Osius at the headquarters of the Ministry of National Defense.

At the reception, host and guest discussed results of the Vietnam-US defense cooperation over the past time as well as measures to boost the cooperation in the coming time in line with the Vietnam-US Memorandum of Understanding on Promoting Bilateral Defense Cooperation and the Vietnam-US Joint Vision Statement on Defense Relations 2015.

On behalf of the leaders of the Ministry of National Defense, General Lich highly appreciated and thanked Ambassador Ted Osius for his contributions to the mitigation of post-war consequences, especially the Agent Orange/dioxin decontamination in affected areas in Vietnam. He also suggested that the US ambassador assert further support for the enhancement of assistance and cooperation with Vietnam in this field.

Translated Huu Duong