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Sr. Lt. Gen. Nguyen Chi Vinh |
The Canadian and Australian Ambassadors and Defense Attachés to Vietnam also attended the events.
At the two teleconferences, the Vietnamese Deputy Defense Minister gave information about the COVID-19 situation in Vietnam, saying that Vietnam’s success in controlling the pandemic has resulted from the sound leadership of the Vietnamese Government as well as the great efforts of all ministries, organizations and localities, particularly the Vietnam People’s Army as the core force in the fight against the disease.
General Vinh highlighted the importance of international cooperation in COVID-19 prevention and control, and thanked the Canadian and Australian Defense Departments for their sharing of information about the preventive measures and therapies against COVID-19. He also hoped that the two countries’ armed forces will continue cooperation with the Vietnam People’s Army in the fight against the disease, which is predicted by scientists to further spread across the world.
During the teleconferences, the Vietnamese side and the Canadian side and later the Australian side reviewed the results of the bilateral defense cooperation in the past time and agreed on the orientations for the bilateral cooperation in the time to come. They also agreed that the pandemic should not negatively affect the development of the bilateral defense relations between Vietnam and Canada as well as Vietnam and Australia.
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At the teleconference between Deputy Defense Minister Sr. Lt. Gen. Nguyen Chi Vinh and his Canadian counterpart Jody Thomas |
In the complicated development of the pandemic, the head delegates at the teleconferences shared the same view that cooperation in military medicine should be expanded to respond to this kind of non-traditional security challenges.
At the teleconference between the Vietnamese and Canadian Deputy Defense Ministers, both officials expressed delight at positive developments in the bilateral defense cooperation after the visit of the Vietnamese Defense Minister to Canada and the visit of the Canadian Defense Minister to Vietnam. Particularly, the two sides gained large results in personnel training and UN peacekeeping operations. The Canadian Deputy Defense Minister revealed that the Canadian Defense Ministry has a plan to establish the Canadian Defense Attaché Office in Vietnam in 2020.
The two sides also consider about the establishment of a Vietnam-Canada defense policy dialogue mechanism and the building of a Vietnam-Canada three-year defense cooperation plan.
Highlighting positive results in the bilateral defense cooperation at the teleconference with the Deputy Secretary at Australia’s Department of Defense, General Vinh thanked Australia’s Department of Defense for its transportation of the staff and equipment of two Vietnamese level-2 field hospitals from Vietnam to South Sudan.
General Vinh also pledged that the Vietnamese Defense Ministry will further expand bilateral defense cooperation with Australia in line with the deals signed by the two sides for the sake of the two countries and region.
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At the teleconference between Deputy Defense Minister Sr. Lt. Gen. Nguyen Chi Vinh and Deputy Secretary for Strategic Policy & Intelligence at Australia's Department of Defense Peter Tesch |
The two officials highly valued the positive outcomes of the bilateral defense cooperation, including conducting the first-ever Vietnam-Australia joint program in searching and collecting remains of Vietnamese soldiers fallen during the past war, exchanging shooting skills, holding seminars on gender equality in the military, and peace and security issues.
At both teleconferences, General Vinh reiterated the resolve of Vietnam as the Chair of ASEAN in 2020 to promote regional defense and security cooperation in the framework of ADMM and ADMM+ for the common interests of ASEAN and its partner countries.
The Vietnamese Deputy Defense Minister also said that Vietnam advocates the responsible involvement of Canada in regional cooperation. Meanwhile, he highly valued Australia’s success in holding the first-ever informal meeting between defense ministers of the ASEAN member countries and Australia.
General Vinh requested both Canada and Australia to support Vietnam as the ASEAN Chair 2020 in hosting relevant general events and activities as well as in performing its duty as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council.
Translated by Thu Nguyen