At the meeting, Lt. Gen. Nguyen Trong Binh spoke highly of the practical outcomes of the defense ties between Vietnam and the U.S. over the past time on the basis of the memorandum of understanding on enhancing the bilateral defense cooperation signed in 2011 and the joint vision statement on defense ties inked in 2015.

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Lieutenant General Nguyen Trong Binh, Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Vietnam People’s Army receives Four-star General Daniel Hokanson, Chief of the National Guard Bureau of the U.S.

He highlighted the effective cooperation in the settlement of war legacy in Vietnam, improvement of law enforcement capability at sea, United Nations peacekeeping operations, training, military medicine, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief.

Regarding the cooperation in addressing war aftermath, Gen. Binh stressed that the two sides have promoted the search for servicemen missing in action, mine clearance, and search for remains of Vietnamese troops fallen in the war. Attentively, they have completed the dioxin detoxification project in Da Nang Airport, and are carrying out a similar project in Bien Hoa Airport, importantly contributing to the local economic development.

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An overview of the reception 

At the reception, the host highly appreciated the coordination achievements obtained by the Vietnam National Committee for Search and Rescue (VINASARCOM) and the Oregon National Guard of the U.S. He said that the cooperation contents have been implemented in accordance with the State Partnership Program in the fields of incident and natural disaster response, search and rescue (SAR) and humanitarian assistance.

About future cooperation, Gen. Binh suggested the U.S. side strengthen the sharing of developing policies and common standards in SAR and humanitarian assistance, personnel training, give support in specialized equipment, improve skills of Vietnamese specialzed forces, and consider the expansion of cooperation in other fields.

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Both sides in a joint photo

For his part, Chief of the National Guard Bureau Daniel Hokanson confirmed that the U.S. treasures the cooperative ties with Vietnam. He highly praised the two sides’ effective cooperation in SAR operations over the past time. He hoped that they would further coordinate in the fields of common concern to help develop the relations between Vietnam and the U.S.

Translated by Mai Huong