Defence Minister holds bilateral meetings with NZ, UK and Singaporean officials
VOV.VN -On June 1, Vietnamese Minister of National Defence General Ngo Xuan Lich had bilateral meetings with defence officials of New Zealand, the UK and Singapore on June 1 on the fringes of the 17th Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore.
Meeting with Defence Minister of New Zealand Ron Mark, Minister Lich showed his delight at the recent development of Vietnam-New Zealand relations, including defence ties, saying that both sides have maintained regular delegation exchange at all levels and offered mutual support at multilateral forums.
He thanked the Defence Ministry of New Zealand for providing English training for Vietnamese officers taking part in United Nations peacekeeping missions.
The two ministers consented to boost cooperation in the fields of their demand such as training, cyber security, search and rescue, and participation in UN peacekeeping activities.
Talking to UK Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson, Lich hailed the UK’s support for Vietnam to replace the British level-2 field hospital in South Sudan and improve English skills of officers preparing to join UN peacekeeping missions.
To promote defence ties on par with the countries’ strategic partnership, the two sides concurred to intensify all-level mutual visits, effectively carry out dialogue and cooperation mechanisms, continue to finalize and sign cooperation documents, support each other at multilateral forums, and promote ties in UN peacekeeping operations.
At the meeting with Singaporean Defence Minister Ng Eng Heng, Lich congratulated Singapore on its successful organization of the ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting Retreat and the ASEAN Chiefs of Defence Forces Informal Meeting.
He said he hopes that the country will fulfill the tasks as ASEAN Chair in 2018, thereby contributing to maintaining the bloc’s central role and leadership.
The two ministers shared the view that over the past years, especially since the signing of the bilateral defence cooperation agreement in 2009, their defence relations have seen positive development and yielded initial practical results.
Competent agencies have been working closely on implement the agreement with a focus on delegation exchanges, personnel training, exchanges of young officers, cooperation between naval, air and military medicine forces, collaboration between strategic research institutes, and coordination at multilateral forums, they said.
The Vietnamese defence official also suggested Singapore support Vietnam when it performs its role as ASEAN Chair in 2020.