This year’s dialogue was special, since it was held on the occasion of the official New Zealand visit of Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, contributing to the general success of the visit and deepening the bilateral defense cooperation in accordance with the two countries’ strategic partnership.
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Deputy Defense Minister Sr. Lt. Gen. Hoang Xuan Chien co-chairs the dialogue. |
At the event, the two sides shared views on regional and international issues of common concern. Gen. Chien confirmed that Vietnam is always consistent with its foreign policy of independence, self-reliance, peace, friendship, cooperation, development, multilateralization, diversification of external relations; being a friend and reliable partner of countries from all over the world. Vietnam is steadfast in its “Four No's” defense policy. Regarding the East Sea (South China Sea) issue, Vietnam resolutely and persistently advocates resolving all disputes by peaceful means on the basis of international law, including the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea 1982 and regional commitments.
Talking about New Zealand’s defense policy, Andrew Bridgman underlined that strengthening Vietnam - New Zealand defense relations is a priority, making an important contribution to fostering peace and prosperity in the region and the world. The New Zealand official also laid stress on the engagement of ministries and departments and the development of the defense forces by 2040.
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An overview of the dialogue |
In terms of bilateral cooperation, the Vietnamese official spoke highly of the bilateral defense ties which have received due attention from senior leaders of the two defense ministries and reaped practical achievements on the basis of the memorandum of understanding on defense cooperation signed in 2013. He named such typical cooperation fields as exchange of delegations, training, dialogue, consultation, U.N. peacekeeping, defense industry, and navy.
Agreeing with the draft cooperation plan for the 2024-2026 period, the two officials assigned agencies of relevant levels to complete the draft for signing soon.
In the time ahead, the two sides will promote cooperation in current fields and consider expansion of cooperation to other fields that both sides need and have strengths such as naval, air force, border cooperation, intelligence, cyber security, military medicine, defense industry, military trade, and search and rescue.
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Deputy Defense Minister Sr. Lt. Gen. Hoang Xuan Chien and New Zealand Secretary of Defense Andrew Bridgman sign the minutes of the fourth dialogue. |
Saying that the Ministry of National Defense of Vietnam wishes to exchange experience in maritime search and rescue with New Zealand, the Vietnamese deputy defense minister suggested the two sides consider signing a memorandum of understanding on cooperation in this field. He also proposed the Ministry of Defense of New Zealand increase target in training English language and other majors that the Vietnamese counterpart has needs as well as lower the age of officers taking part in the command and staff courses in New Zealand.
The two sides concurred in jointly making thorough preparation for the official visit to New Zealand of the Vietnamese Defense Minister General Phan Van Giang to be made in an appropriate time.
Given that the Vietnamese Ministry highly appreciated active and constructive contribution of New Zealand in the framework of the ASEAN Defense Ministers’ Meeting Plus (ADMM+), the Vietnamese official suggested the two sides further boost consultations and cooperation in multilateral mechanisms that both sides are participants or co-chairs, particularly the ADMM+ Experts’ Working Groups, to promote Vietnam’s international integration in terms of defense and the ASEAN - New Zealand strategic partnership.
On the occasion, Sr. Lt. Gen. Hoang Xuan Chien invited the leadership of the Ministry of Defense and defense enterprises of New Zealand to the second Vietnam International Defense Expo slated for December this year.
At the end of the dialogue, the two sides signed the minutes of the fourth Vietnam -Zealand defense policy dialogue.
Translated by Mai Huong