PANO – The Defence Ministry has officially taken over the Governmental Cryptography Agency from the Ministry of Internal Affairs after a ceremony to sign involved documents between leaders of the two Ministries on the morning of December 23rd.

Earlier on December 22nd, the Presidential Office announced the State President’s signing into law the Cryptography Act that was passed by the National Assembly (NA) during the second session of the 13th NA tenure in November 2011.  

The decision to transfer the Governmental Cryptography Agency from the Ministry of Internal Affairs to the Defence Ministry rests in the Decree No 76/2011/ND-CP issued by the Government on August 31st, 2011.

After some time for preparations, on December 23rd, Deputy-Minister of Internal Affairs, Nguyen Tien Dinh and Deputy-Minister of Defence, Admiral Nguyen Van Hien signed the documents in the presence of representatives of Central agencies, bodies of the Internal Affairs and Defence Ministries, concerned Ministries and branches and leaders of the Governmental Cryptography Agency.

According to representatives of the Defence Ministry at the signing ceremony, after being handed over to the Defence Ministry, the Governmental Cryptography Agency will have the same organization, functions and tasks but becomes a body under the Defence Ministry and directly led by the Defence Minister.

Speaking at the event, Deputy-Minister of Defence, Admiral Nguyen Van Hien on behalf of the Defence Minister affirmed that the Defence Ministry will create good conditions for the Governmental Cryptography Agency to fulfill its missions and asked the Board of Directors of the Governmental Cryptography Agency to quickly stablise the organization and continue its tasks.

In his reply to the Deputy-Minister of Defence, Chief of the Governmental Cryptography Agency, Major-General Tran Nguyen Binh said that all of its leaders and workers had been prepared for the change and promised that work would not be interrupted and the Agency would continue to successfully finish all the tasks to be assigned by the Party, State and Army.

Thu Nguyen