The exercise witnessed the attendance of Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister Men Sam An, and Vietnamese Deputy Defense Ministers: Senior Lieutenant General Phan Van Giang, who is also Chief of the General Staff of the Vietnam People’s Army, Senior Lieutenant General Nguyen Chi Vinh and Senior Lieutenant General Tran Don, among others.
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Vietnamese medical troops evacuate victims during the excercise. |
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Participating forces provide first aid for victims. |
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Vietnamese Defense Minister General Ngo Xuan Lich (standing, left) and Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister-cum-Defense Minister General Samdech Pichey Sena Tea Banh shake hands at the exercise. |
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General Lich (left) presents gifts to Cambodian participants after the excercise. |
Participating forces are units of the two defense ministries and Cambodian locals. Particularly, the Vietnamese Defense Ministry sent troops from the Chemistry Corps, the Military Region 7 Command, and the Long An Provincial Military Command to the exercise, while the Cambodian side assigned troops of the Svay Rieng Military Sub-region, a border guard battalion and the Gendarmerie of Svay Rieng province, and personnel from relevant units to take part in the event.
According to the simulated scenario, the low-level atmospheric circulation of a tropical cyclone caused chemical spills in several areas of Chanthrea district in the Cambodian province of Svay Rieng. Being requested from the Cambodian Defense Ministry, the Vietnamese side has sent troops to coordinate with affiliated units of the Cambodian defense ministry to establish and operate a joint command post to deal with the incident. Consequently, participants have handled all mock-up situations, meeting the set targets of the exercise.
The first-ever exercise of this kind aims to realize the protocol signed by the two countries on frequent natural disaster prevention, search and rescue, and to implement the coordination regulations nodded by Vietnamese and Cambodian localities sharing the borderline.
Speaking at the event, General Lich stressed that the exercise is to improve the activeness of units of the two defense ministries, the local authorities and people along the two countries’ border area in dealing with natural disasters. Thus, it is hoped to help expand the traditional friendship, solidarity, cooperation and mutual support between the two militaries and peoples while also contributing to maintaining political security, and building a borderline of peace, friendship, stability, cooperation and development, he added. Also, the Vietnamese defense minister suggested that the two sides should continue implementing similar undertakings to better response to unexpected disasters in the shared border area.
In turn, General Tea Banh reaffirmed that the success of the exercise, part of the effective cooperation between the two defense ministries hascontributed to enhancing the bilateral ties between the two militaries.
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The two defense ministers cut the ribbon to inaugurate a military-civilian friendship infirmary in the Cambodian district of Chanthrea. |
On this occasion, the two defense ministers and delegates attended a ceremony to inaugurate a military-civilian friendship infirmary, worth US$ 150,000 in total, in the Cambodian district of Chanthrea. In addition, the Vietnamese military units transferred and installed medical equipment in the locality and presented gifts and free medicines to local people.
Translated by Trung Thanh