At the reception, General Chien underlined that despite the complicated developments of COVID-19, the two countries and militaries have maintained relationship via their official visits by each side’s defense leaders.
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General Chien talks with Mr. Derek Chollet. |
General Chien evaluated that the bilateral defense cooperation has been carried out effectively in line with the memorandum of understanding on advancing bilateral defense cooperation signed in 2011 and the joint vision statement on defense relations reached in 2015.
Accordingly, both sides have recorded considerable cooperation achievements in the fields of delegation exchanges, war-consequence relief, training, search and rescue, humanitarian assistance, U.N. peacekeeping operations, along with the bilateral comprehensive partnership.
On this occasion, the Vietnamese deputy defense minister stressed that Vietnam always attaches special attention and gives the top priority to settling war legacy in Vietnam, while expressing sincere thanks to the U.S. Department of State for supporting Vietnam in cooperation projects to overcome the consequences of war that the two sides have been implementing.
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General Chien and Mr. Derek Chollet in a group photo |
Moreover, General Chien hoped that in the coming time, the U.S. would continue to beef up the bilateral cooperation in addressing war consequences, especially speeding up progress of dioxin detoxification projects, a project to support people with disabilities caused by Agent Orange/dioxin sprayed on seven localities of Vietnam during the war, and mine action projects.
At the same time, the U.S. was urged to assist Vietnam in U.N. peacekeeping operations; provide Vietnam with vaccines, antiviral medications, and medical equipment in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. Both sides also should support each other on issues of mutual concern in regional and international forums, ASEAN-led and -centered issues; and uphold their active role as members of the ASEAN Defense Ministers’ Meeting Plus (ADMM+) in the region and over the world as well.
For his part, Mr. Chollet thanked General Chien for a warm reception; highly appreciated the bilateral cooperation outcomes since their normalization of diplomatic relations, including defense ties; and agreed on the importance of their cooperation on addressing war-left consequences in Vietnam and pledged to further enhance this work.
Translated by Minh Anh