Deputy Minister of National Defense of Vietnam Senior Lieutenant General Hoang Xuan Chien and Singaporean Permanent Secretary for Defense Chan Heng Kee co-chaired the event.
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Sr. Lt. Gen. Hoang Xuan Chien and Mr. Chan Heng Kee witnessing the signing of the defense cooperation agreement |
The two sides exchanged views on world, regional situations and other issues of common concern. They agreed on the need to maintain peace, stability, and ensure safety, security and freedom of navigation and overflight in the East Sea (aka South China Sea); settlement of all disputes by peaceful means, in line with international law, including the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) 1982; the effective and comprehensive implementation of the Declaration of the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC) and the establishment of an effective, substantive, legally-binding Code of Conduct in the East Sea (COC).
In terms of bilateral cooperation, the two sides laid stress on the effective implementation of the bilateral defense ties according to the contents agreed at the 14th edition of the dialogue.
They were unanimous in promoting contacts and delegation exchanges, particularly high-level ones; effectively maintaining existing cooperation mechanisms, especially the defense policy dialogue; enhancing cooperation in training between arms and services in cyber security, military medicine, search and rescue operations, and between research agencies; and continuing to consult with and support each other at multilateral forums and mechanisms.
At the end of the dialogue, the two head delegates witnessed the exchange of the defense cooperation agreement.
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Sr. Lt. Gen. Hoang Xuan Chien, Mr. Chan Heng Kee and delegates in a joint photo |
Earlier the same day, the delegation of the Vietnamese Ministry of National Defense, led by Gen. Chien, paid a courtesy call on Singaporean Minister of Defense Ng Eng Hen.
Gen. Chien expressed thanks to the Singaporean Ministry for offering specialized and language training courses for officers of the Vietnamese Ministry and for welcoming Vietnamese officers to work at the Information Fusion Center (IFC) of the Republic of Singapore Navy.
The Vietnamese official hoped that the Singaporean Ministry and the Minister himself would continue to pay attention to and back the development of bilateral cooperation relations in line with the two countries’ strategic partnership.
He conveyed Defense Minister General Phan Van Giang’s invitation to Minister Ng Eng Hen to visit Vietnam to attend the 80th founding anniversary of the Vietnam People’s Army and the second Vietnam International Defense Expo in Hanoi. He welcomed Singaporean defense enterprises to display their products at the expo.
For his part, Minister Ng Eng Hen highly appreciated the two ministries’ good maintenance of the defense policy dialogue mechanism. He expressed his pleasure at the outcomes of the bilateral defense ties in the past.
Emphasizing that the two countries’ defense cooperation has made important contribution to enhancing political trust and deepening the Singapore-Vietnam strategic partnership, the host wished that both countries would accelerate cooperation across all fields. He confirmed that the Singaporean ministry would work closely with its Vietnamese counterpart and expressed his hope that the two sides would show support for events hosted by the other.
By Kieu Trinh from Singapore
Translated by Mai Huong