On December 3, Senior Lieutenant General Nguyen Chi Vinh and Senior Lieutenant General Alexander Vasilyevich Fomin, Deputy Defense Minister of the Russian Federation, co-chaired the fourth Vietnam-Russia Defense Strategy Dialogue.

At the dialogue, the two sides spoke highly of important achievements in defense cooperation between Vietnam and Russia in 2018. They agreed that defense cooperation has served as the backbone and has been given priority to develop on the basis of the Vietnam-Russia traditional friendship and comprehensive strategic partnership, for peace, stability, cooperation and development. Both sides then shared their views on international and regional concerns and defined Vietnam-Russia defense cooperation as one of the important factors contributing to the maintenance of security, peace, cooperation and development in the region. The two sides also agreed that disputes should be resolved by peaceful means and on the basis of international law.

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At the event. Source: VNA

On the threshold of the 25th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty on fundamental principles for the Vietnam-Russia friendship ties (1994-2019) and the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries (1950-2020), the two sides agreed to continue expanding defense cooperation and ran through the list of more than 60 cooperation contents on a number of key areas to be implemented in 2019. The contents include exchange of delegations, exchange of views on issues of mutual concern, training, military technology, UN peacekeeping operations, scientific research of the Vietnam-Russia Tropical Center, and more. The leaders of the two defense ministries also agreed on the activities to be jointly organized in the framework of the Vietnam-Russia Friendship Year 2019-2020.

General Fomin thanked Vietnam for supporting and participating in the Moscow Conference on International Security, the International Army Games 2018, the St. Petersburg Naval Parade, and other multilateral activities hosted by the Russian Ministry of Defense. He affirmed that the Russian Defense Ministry would actively contribute to the bilateral cooperation via the Vietnam-Russia Tropical Center and pledged to support initiatives and further engage in activities proposed and organized by Vietnam in 2020, when it takes the ASEAN Chair and marks the 10th anniversary of the ASEAN Defense Ministers’ Meeting Plus (ADMM+) mechanism.

For his part, General Vinh held that Vietnam will continue taking part in multilateral activities held by the Russian Ministry of Defense suitable with Vietnam’s conditions. The country will also provide more favorable conditions for Russian naval ships to visit Vietnamese seaports.

During the business trip, General Vinh and the delegation paid a courtesy call on Russian Minister of Defense General Sergei Shoigu, visited Kirov Military Medical Academy and signed research cooperation programs.

Translated by Huu Duong