Vietnam, US hold defence policy dialogue in Hanoi

The Vietnam - US defence policy dialogue 2018 in Hanoi on October 4

The dialogue took place under the chair of Vietnamese Deputy Minister of National Defence Sen. Lt. Gen. Nguyen Chi Vinh and US Assistant Secretary of Defence for Asian and Pacific Security Affairs Randall Schriver.

Deputy Minister Vinh said the two countries have been witnessing strong and substantive strides in their defence ties. He thanked the US Government and Department of Defence for actively supporting Vietnam with equipment and training to help it deploy the first Level-2 field hospital to the UN peacekeeping mission in South Sudan.

Reviewing the outcomes attained in the cooperation to settle war consequences, he said this will remain an important cooperation field between Vietnam and the US, as well as between the two militaries in the time ahead.

For his part, Schriver congratulated Vietnam on deploying the field hospital to the UN mission in South Sudan. He affirmed that the US Department of Defence is ready to continue cooperating with and assisting Vietnam in this area.

At the dialogue, the two sides looked back on bilateral defence ties and discussed ways to promote this collaboration in line with the 2011 Memorandum of Understanding for Advancing Bilateral Defence Cooperation, the 2015 Joint Vision Statement on Defence Relations, the Plan of Action for Defence Cooperation for 2018 – 2020, as well as the two ministries’ high-level agreements.

The officials looked into measures to improve the effectiveness of cooperation in such fields as war aftermath settlement, search and rescue, disaster aid, and UN peacekeeping missions. They also exchanged ideas on a cooperation and coordination plan when Vietnam holds the ASEAN Chair in 2020.

International and regional issues of shared concern were also discussed at the event.

Also on October 4, Defence Minister Gen. Ngo Xuan Lich had a meeting with Assistant Secretary Schriver.

The minister expressed his delight at the enhanced bilateral defence cooperation which, he said, has greatly contributed to the two countries’ comprehensive partnership.

He said on the basis of the dialogue’s outcomes, the two ministries should make stronger efforts to develop defence ties in a more result-oriented, practical and effective manner, especially in addressing war consequences and sharing experiences in UN peacekeeping activities, manpower training, military medicine, and humanitarian aid.