During the event, Senior Lieutenant General Hoang Xuan Chien affirmed that Vietnam and Thailand are two maritime neighbors and responsible members of the ASEAN Community. Over the past years, the bilateral ties have been continuously consolidated and developed. In particular, since the two countries upgraded their bilateral relationship to an enhanced strategic partnership in 2020, their relationship has been promoted in all fields, including defense cooperation.

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Senior Lieutenant General Hoang Xuan Chien (left) and General Sanitchanok Sangkachan co-chair the fourth Vietnam-Thailand Defense Policy Dialogue.

For his part, the Thai general held that the bilateral defense cooperation over the past time has been increasingly developed, contributing to tightening the relations between the two countries in general, and the two defense ministries and militaries in particular.

Regarding outcomes of the defense cooperation over the past time, both sides agreed that on the basis of the sound bilateral relations, the defense cooperation has gained fruitful achievements in various fields, especially in delegation exchange, dialogue mechanisms, young officer exchange, and training and education, among others.

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Delegates pose for a joint photo at the dialogue.

2023 marks 10 years of the establishment of the Vietnam-Thailand strategic partnership. Both sides will further promote mutual trust between the two defense ministries and militaries, making bilateral defense cooperation one of the important pillars of the enhanced strategic partnership between Vietnam and Thailand.

The two sides will also support each other in the framework of ASEAN military-defense cooperation, and maintain ASEAN’s common viewpoint on regional and international security issues, to name but a few.

At the dialogue, they also discussed world and regional situations and issues of mutual concern, including the situation in the East Sea (South China Sea internationally) and agreed to closely work together to maintain solidarity and ASEAN’s central role in the regional security architecture, and promote dialogue and cooperation among countries for peace and stability of the region and the world.

* On the same day, Senior Lieutenant General Hoang Xuan Chien led the delegation to pay a courtesy call on First Deputy Prime Minister of Thailand Prawit Wongsuwan.

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Senior Lieutenant General Hoang Xuan Chien (left) pays a courtesy call on First Deputy Prime Minister of Thailand Prawit Wongsuwan.

At the reception, Senior Lieutenant General Hoang Xuan Chien stressed that on the basis of the sound bilateral relations, defense cooperation between the two countries has been paid due attention to. Leaders of their defense ministries and militaries regularly meet and attend events held by each side. They also earn considerable results in fields of dialogue, young officer exchange, cooperation among services, and education and training, to name but a few.

Senior Lieutenant General Hoang Xuan Chien also highly appreciated role and active participation of Thailand in general and the Thai Defense Ministry in particular in boosting multilateral cooperation, especially under the ASEAN framework, making contribution to strengthening solidarity within ASEAN and heightening position of the  association.

The Vietnamese general hoped that the Thai Government and also First Deputy Prime Minister of Thailand Prawit Wongsuwan will futher take care of and create favorable conditions to foster the bilateral defense cooperation to become one of the important pillar in the relations between Vietnam and Thailand, for the sake of peace and stability in the region and in the world as well.

In turn, the First Deputy Prime Minister of Thailand valued the bilateral defense cooperation as well as support and participation of the Vietnamese Defense Ministry in initiatives and multilateral activities hosted by Thailand over the past time.

He took this occasion to congratulate Vietnam on successfully organizing the 23rd ASEAN Chiefs of Army Multilateral Meeting (ACAMM-23), while affirming the further cooperation between the Vietnam Coast Guard and the Thailand Maritime Enforcement Coordinating Center.

Translated by Minh Anh