At the meeting, Gen. Vinh informed Atul Khare of the COVID-19 situation in Vietnam, highlighting the Vietnamese government and people’s concerted effort in disease prevention and control.
He highlighted the results of Vietnamese peacekeepers' participation in UN peacekeeping operations in recent years, and their great efforts in COVID-19 prevention in the host countries.
According to him, the Vietnamese peacekeepers have left a good impression on international friends and local people. They have helped local children study and taught local people how to keep personal hygiene to prevent the disease. They also produced and presented face covering masks to international colleagues and local citizens to prevent the pandemic. These activities showed the Vietnamese peacekeepers' sense of responsibility for the community, he stressed.
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Deputy Defense Minister Senior Lieutenant General Nguyen Chi Vinh |
Gen. Vinh said that Vietnam is currently actively preparing for the Level-two Field Hospital (L2FH) Rotation 3 to replace the one in South Sudan. However, due to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, the term of Level-two Field Hospital (L2FH) Rotation 2 will be extended, so Vinh suggested that the UN should have a support policy for all term-extended peacekeepers, including Vietnamese ones.
For his part, Atul Khare thanked the efforts of Vietnamese personnel of the Level-two Field Hospital (L2FH) Rotation 2 in taking measures to prevent and control the disease, and suggested that Vietnam should further promote these activities to support the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS).
He also affirmed that the UN would reward the UN peacekeeping forces with their achievements in the fight against the pandemic, including the Vietnamese peacekeepers.
The UN Under-Secretary General for Field Support also congratulated the Military Medical Academy under the Vietnamese Ministry of National Defense on successfully producing SARS-CoV-2 test kits, and proposed plans to expand UN cooperation with the country in the coming time.
Regarding the deployment of Vietnamese engineers to a UN peacekeeping mission, he suggested that the two sides should work on procedures to support the team to take on their missions.
On this occasion, both sides discussed several major international activities hosted by Vietnam during its ASEAN Chairmanship 2020 and its non-permanent membership of the UN Security Council in the 2020-2021 period, including the organization of a conference on women on UN peacekeeping missions and a celebration of the 10th anniversary of the ASEAN Defense Ministers’ Meeting Plus (ADMM+).
The UN official expressed his support for Vietnam’s initiatives and plans to organize these activities in the year when it takes on the dual role.
Translated by Lam Anh