At the dialogue, General Chien discussed the COVID-19 situation in Vietnam and laid stress on the participation of the entire political system and the Vietnam People’s Army in the fight against the pandemic.
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At the dialogue. (Screen captured) |
Also, he spoke highly of the international cooperation in disease prevention and control within bilateral and multilateral frameworks, and expressed his hope to boost collaboration with the UK Defense Medical Services in the time to come.
On this occasion, the Vietnamese deputy defense minister informed Minister Baroness Goldie DL of the outcomes of activities hosted by Vietnam as the ASEAN Chair in 2020 and a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council in 2020-2021. Particularly, the 37th ASEAN Summit and Related Meetings which took place from November 12 to 15 have successfully completed.
Vietnam is determined to continue boosting cooperation within the ADMM and ADMM-Plus for the shared interests of ASEAN members and ASEAN’s partners, he added. General Chien affirmed that he hopes the UK government will back Vietnam’s initiatives during its 2020 ASEAN Chairmanship.
In turn, Minister Baroness Goldie DL congratulated Vietnam on its success in performing its role as the ASEAN Chair in 2020 and a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council for the 2020-2021 term despite many challenges, including the pandemic and natural disasters.
She affirmed that the UK is willing to boost bilateral ties with Vietnam in various fields, especially defense cooperation.
The two sides reviewed the development of their bilateral defense ties over the past time and agreed on orientations for cooperation in the time to come. They agreed that the bilateral defense cooperation between Vietnam and the UK has fruitfully developed, particularly in delegation exchange, training, and UN peacekeeping operations.
Gen. Chien thanked the UK Ministry of Defense for its effective support for the deployment and capability improvement of Vietnam’s level-two field hospitals (L2FH) Rotation 1 and 2 in South Sudan.
They agreed to continue strengthening cooperation in the fields of delegation exchange, defense policy dialogue, training, settlement of war aftermath, strategic research, and UN peacekeeping operations.
Taking place on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the Vietnam-UK strategic partnership (2010-2020), the third Vietnam-UK defense policy dialogue is considered a great chance for the two defense ministries’ leaders to discuss issues of mutual concern and agree upon measures to boost bilateral defense ties in the current context.
* Previously, Sen. Lt. Gen. Hoang Xuan Chien hosted Ambassador of the UK of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to Vietnam Gareth Ward.
Translated by Trung Thanh