The New Zealand Defense Minister warmly welcomed Gen. Vinh and the visiting delegation and said that New Zealand has attached great importance to its relations and cooperation with Vietnam. He also highly valued the outcomes of the bilateral defense cooperation between the two countries in the past and affirmed that New Zealand is ready to exhaust all possibilities to boost defense cooperation with Vietnam.
For his part, Gen. Vinh thanked the host for his reception and conveyed the greetings and congratulations of the Vietnamese Defense Minister, General Ngo Xuan Lich, to him on his recent appointment as Defense Minister in the new New Zealand Cabinet.
New Zealand Defense Minister Ron Mark (R) and Senior Lieutenant General Nguyen Chi Vinh
The guest assured that Vietnam pays special attention to defense cooperation with New Zealand and will try its best to enhance the bilateral defense ties toward practical outcomes, contributing more to maintaining peace, stability and development in the region.
He expressed his hope that the New Zealand Defense Minister would create favorable conditions for the two militaries to strengthen cooperation in the coming time.
Earlier, Gen. Vinh and Vietnamese defense delegation had a meeting with New Zealand Chief of the Defense Force, Lieutenant General Tim Keating. The guest suggested that the two militaries should actively roll out cooperation contents within the framework of the deals signed by the two defense ministries, particularly cooperation in field activities of the Experts’ Working Groups within the ASEAN Defense Ministers’ Meeting Plus (ADMM+) and experience-sharing between the two navies.
Gen. Keating agreed with the Vietnamese side’s suggestions, saying that the New Zealand military will step up efficient cooperation with the Vietnamese side to contribute to the bilateral relations between the two countries. At the end of the meeting, the two senior military officers signed an agreement between the Vietnamese Ministry of National Defense and New Zealand Defense Ministry and Defense Force on cooperation in training personnel to participate in UN peacekeeping operations.
On the morning of the same day, Gen. Vinh and New Zealand Secretary of Defense and Chief Executive of the Ministry of Defense Helene Quilter co-chaired the third Vietnam-New Zealand Defense Policy Dialogue. At the meeting, the host highly valued the visit of the Vietnamese defense delegation led by Gen. Vinh to New Zealand, saying that it would contribute much to the bilateral defense cooperation and the New Zealand-Vietnam comprehensive partnership in the future. She also spoke highly of Vietnam’s position in the region and wished to continue promoting defense cooperation with Vietnam to make practical contributions to regional peace, stability and development.
New Zealand Secretary of Defense and Chief Executive of the Ministry of Defense Helene Quilter (L) and Gen. Vinh
Gen. Vinh expressed delight at visiting New Zealand and thanked the New Zealand side for the esteemed and warm reception for the Vietnamese defense delegation. He stressed that Vietnam treasures the Vietnam-New Zealand relationship and bilateral defense cooperation. He said, the positive outcomes of the bilateral cooperation over the past time had demonstrated that two countries, in spite of their geographical distance and some differences, can still cooperate efficiently with each other, contributing to the development and interests of each country. He proposed that the two countries should maintain the good relations and continuously gear up bilateral cooperation in the future.
The two delegations also discussed a number of issues of mutual concern, such as anti-terrorism, maritime security and roles of regional major powers. The two chairpersons of the dialogue adopted the results of the Defense Consulting Groups’ meeting at the defense-foreign-affairs-agency level on November 6.
According to the report of the Defense Consulting Groups, the two sides effectively deployed cooperation contents in accordance with the memorandum of understanding on bilateral defense cooperation signed by the two defense ministries in 2013 (2013 MOU). Particularly, the two sides actively exchanged delegations at all levels, enhanced cooperation in training, maritime security and experience sharing in UN peacekeeping operations while actively consulting and supporting each other in regional multilateral forums.
Gen. Vinh expressed special gratitude to the New Zealand Defense Ministry for its support in providing English language training for Vietnamese military officers to participate in UN peacekeeping operations.
Regarding cooperation plans for the coming years, the two sides saw a big potential and a high need for the bilateral defense cooperation and agreed on the Cooperation Plan in the 2018-21 period, in which the two sides will strengthen the bilateral defense cooperation in a practical and profound manner under the 2013 MOU, and further cooperation in multilateral forums, particularly Experts’ Working Group meetings within the framework of ADMM+
Reported by Do Tung – Le Minh from Wellington, New Zealand
Translated by Thu Nguyen