Deputy Minister of Defence and Chief of the General Staff of the Vietnam People’s Army Sen. Lieut. Gen. Phan Van Giang on October 3 held talks with Indian Chairman of Chiefs of Staff Committee and Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral Sunil Lanba who is on official visit to Vietnam from October 3-8.

Deputy Minister of Defence and Chief of the General Staff of the Vietnam People’s Army Sen. Lieut. Gen. Phan Van Giang (R)and Indian Chairman of Chiefs of Staff Committee and Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral Sunil Lanba

Giang said that the Indian Admiral’s visit is a vivid symbol of Vietnam-India comprehensive strategic partnership, contributing to fuelling the friendship and promoting mutual understanding between the two armies and peoples.

He stressed that this visit is particularly important as both sides are celebrating the 45th anniversary of diplomatic relations and the 10th anniversary of strategic partnership.

For his part, Sunil Lanba affirmed that defence cooperation is one of the significant pillars in the comprehensive strategic relations between the two countries.

Both sides evaluated bilateral defence collaboration in the past years. They said that fields of cooperation have been extended and deepened like delegation exchange, education and training, peacekeeping activities of the United Nations as well as coordination in regional and international forums.

They agreed that the two armies need to maintain and enhance delegation exchange to effectively carry out inked agreements, which include a joint vision statement on bilateral defence relations in the 2015-2020 period.

Defence dialogue mechanism at the deputy ministerial level, defence industry and training cooperation should be paid due attention, they underlined.

They expressed their belief that the bilateral defence relations will be deepened, bringing benefit for the two people and for peace, sustainability, cooperation and development in the region and the world.

VNA