On the afternoon of January 23, General Ngo Xuan Lich hosted an official reception for the Thai official and his entourage at the Headquarters of the Vietnamese Defense Ministry. The event also saw the presence of Senior Lieutenant General Phan Van Giang, Chief of the General Staff and Deputy Defense Minister; Senior Lieutenant General Nguyen Chi Vinh, Deputy Defense Minister; Lieutenant General Nguyen Tan Cuong, Deputy Chief of the General Staff; Lieutenant General Le Hien Van, Deputy Director of the General Department of Politics; and other leaders of agencies and units under the Defense Ministry.
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General Ngo Xuan Lich (R) and General Prawit Wongsuwan |
After the reception, the two defense ministers headed two high-ranking defense delegations to have talks. At the meeting, General Lich stated, Vietnam and Thailand are two neighboring countries and two members of the regional bloc of ASEAN. Vietnam always attaches much importance to promoting its relations with neighboring countries and ASEAN member states, including Thailand, one of the priorities in the country’s foreign policy.
The host considered that bilateral relations between Vietnam and Thailand have seen robust developments in the past years, particularly since the establishment of the Vietnam-Thailand strategic partnership in 2013.
For his part, General Prawit Wongsuwan expressed delight at visiting Vietnam this time. He stressed that Vietnam is the first ASEAN member country he has visited since Thailand officially took over the Chairmanship of ASEAN in 2019.
The two sides reviewed outcomes of the cooperation between the two militaries in the past time and discussed orientations for the bilateral cooperation in the time to come.
Regarding the outcomes of the bilateral defense cooperation, the two ministers shared the same view that the establishment of the Vietnam-Thailand strategic partnership in 2013 facilitated cooperation activities between the two militaries. Since then, the two sides have become more confident in each other and increased exchange of delegations at all levels, cooperation in language training for military officers and cooperation between naval and air forces. Especially, the two sides have established a number of cooperation and dialogue mechanisms from strategic level to tactic, and achieved fruitful results.
General Lich affirmed that Vietnam is ready to support Thailand’s initiatives as it holds the Chair of ASEAN in 2019. Vietnam also hopes Thailand would share experience in preparing and hosting regional meetings, and support Vietnam when it takes over the ASEAN Chair in 2020.
The host highly appreciated Thailand’s coordination in searching and repatriating remains of fallen Vietnamese troops buried in Thailand. The guest revealed that a number of Thai veterans have either directly or indirectly given information about fallen or missing Vietnamese troops to relevant Thai agencies. This will help the Vietnamese side step up the collection and repatriation of remains of fallen Vietnamese troops buried in Thailand.
During the meeting, the two sides agreed to boost defense cooperation and improve the efficiency of the existing cooperation mechanisms with a focus on exchange of delegations at all levels, cooperation between military corps and services, cooperation in personnel training, and support each other at multilateral forums, contributing to promoting the good traditional relations between the two nations and militaries and expanding cooperation between the two countries for more practical and effective outcomes for benefits of the two peoples as well as for peace, stability, cooperation and common development in the region and the world.
Translated by Thu Nguyen