Vietnamese army finances Cambodian facility

The office of the chemicals experiment and research institute of the Cambodia’s National Authority of Chemical Weapons was inaugurated in Kongpong Chnang province of Cambodia on November 22.

The construction of the facility was completed with financial assistance from the High Command of Chemical Arm of Vietnamese People’s Army.

General Muon Sam Phan, Secretary of State of the Cambodian Ministry of Defence, spoke highly of the Vietnamese side’s support, highlighting that the sacrifices of Vietnamese voluntary soldiers greatly helped his country escape from the genocidal Khmer Rouge regime.

Mayor General Pham Quoc Trung, Commander of the High Command, said that the construction serves as a vivid illustration of the effective cooperation between the two sides.

It also manifests friendship and solidarity between the two armies and peoples, Trung added.

President to visit regional countries

President Truong Tan Sang and his spouse will make state visits to Brunei from November 27-29 and Myanmar from November 29-December 1.

The visits are made at invitations by Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah and President Thein Sein.

Defence dialogue boosts Vietnam-Singapore partnership

Vietnam and Singapore are keen to lift bilateral national defence relations on a par with their strategic partnership as agreed by senior leaders to mark the 40th anniversary of their diplomatic ties next year.

Deputy Minister of National Defence Senior Lieutenant-General Nguyen Chi Vinh and Singapore's Permanent Secretary for Defence Chiang Chie Foo co-chaired the fifth Singapore-Vietnam Defence Policy Dialogue (DPD), being held from November 19-21.

The dialogue follows Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong’s visit to Singapore last September and is regarded as a positive development given the current complex regional and international relations context.

Both sides compared notes on regional and international issues of common concern and argued that there remain challenges to both traditional and non-traditional security arrangements. They agreed that all parties need to spare no efforts to strengthen friendship and cooperation for the sake of peace, stability and development between the two nations as well as internationally.

The two sides emphasized the solidarity and unity of ASEAN countries as an important factor in maintaining regional peace and stability, minimising negative impacts from external parties that threaten the inner ASEAN bloc, and enhancing the regional grouping’s crucial role at multilateral forums.

On the East Sea issue, they agreed that ASEAN countries and all parties concerned should exert greater efforts in sharing their views, building confidence and devising peaceful solutions to deal with contradictions in an open and transparent manner in accordance with international law, especially the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC), towards building a new Code of Conduct in the East Sea (COC).

The two sides pledged to improve effective and practical cooperation across various fields with a focus on human resource training, military medical cooperation, and sharing experience in international peacekeeping activities.

They also underlined the need to boost bilateral cooperation at regional multilateral forums such as the ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting (ADMM) and the ASEAN Defence Ministerial Plus Meeting (ADMM+).

The Singaporean delegates invited Defence Minister Phung Quang Thanh to visit Singapore during the Shangri-La Dialogue which is due to take place next year.

Deputy Defence Minister Nguyen Chi Vinh also conveyed an invitation to visit Vietnam to the Singaporean Defence Minister.  

US war veterans welcomed in Hanoi

Vice President of the Vietnam Union of Friendship Organisations (VUFO) Nguyen Van Kien received a delegation from the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the US (VFW) in Hanoi on November 22.

At the reception, VFW Senior Vice Commander-in-Chief William A. “Bill” Thien said that their November 20-24 visit is to study the Vietnamese situation and Vietnam-US relations, as well as the cooperation between the two sides in addressing the missing-in-action (MIA) issue during the war in Vietnam.

He spoke highly of the active cooperation of Vietnam’s authorised agencies and people in assisting the solution of the MIA issue.

Sharing Vietnam’s efforts in addressing war consequences, the official suggested that the VFW should pay attention to humanitarian demands to overcome the aftermath of the war by providing information on Vietnamese soldiers who died during the war, and address the issues of Agent Orange/dioxin and post-war unexploded ordnance in Vietnam.

In addition, the VFW should increase economic cooperation between Vietnamese and US war veteran organisations and individuals, helping foster the friendship between the two countries’ people and war veterans, he said.

Senior Italian defence official visits Vietnam

High-raking defence officials from Vietnam and Italy have called for intensifying training and cooperation coordination in the defence industry.

Vietnam’s Deputy Minister of Defence, Senior Lieutenant General Nguyen Chi Vinh, and visiting Rear Admiral Giorgio Lazio, head of the Military Policy Department of the Italian Ministry of Defence, made the call at a reception in Hanoi on November 22.

They suggested that the two sides should increase delegation exchanges to share field experience.

Both officials highly valued the concretisation and implementation of programmes signed between the two armies.

Algeria, Vietnam promote judicial cooperation

A Vietnamese delegation, headed by Le Thi Thu Ba, Deputy Chief of the Party Central Committee Office cum Permanent Deputy Head of the Central Steering Committee for Judicial Reform, has paid an official visit to Algeria.

From November 16-21, the delegation had working sessions with Tayeb Belaiz, Algerian Minister of Justice and Keeper of the Seals, President of the Council of State, and the Chief Judge of Algeria.

They discussed measures to boost judicial cooperation between the two countries.

The Algerian side agreed to receive Vietnamese officials on a study tours and send its experts to Vietnam to share experience in judicial reform.

VNN/VOV/VNA