May 23, 2017 | 21:15 (GMT+7)
Vietnamese, Japanese, Philippine coast guards to take part in joint anti-piracy drills
PANO - Patrol vessel Echigo of the Japan Coast Guard (JCG) will be dispatched to Vietnam and the Philippines to participate in joint anti-piracy drills, announced the JCG on May 22.
Patrol vessel Echigo of the Japan Coast Guard (JCG). Photo: marinetraffic.com
According to the JCG, the drills are part of Japan’s counter-piracy cooperation program in Southeast Asia. Accordingly, Japan will support Southeast Asian countries, including Vietnam, to strengthen the law enforcement capacity of their coast guard forces, so as to promote cooperation among regional countries in this field.
As scheduled, the Echigo will leave Niigata port of Japan on May 24 and arrive at Da Nang port on June 13.
Shiro Suzuki, Head of the JCG’s International Criminal Investigation Division, said this is the first time that the JCG has sent a patrol ship to Vietnam since it reached a memorandum of understanding with the Vietnam Coast Guard (VCG) in September 2015.
This is also the first time that the patrol ship, presented to Vietnam by Japan in 2015, has joined the anti-piracy drills in Da Nang.
Source: PANO/VNA
Translated by Tran Hoai