Israeli President Reuven Rivlin has received Vietnam’s Deputy Defence Minister Nguyen Chi Vinh, affirming the support that he and the State and the Government of his country give to defence ties with Vietnam.

Deputy Defence Minister Nguyen Chi Vinh (L) meets with Israeli President Reuven Rivlin in Jerusalem

At the meeting in Jerusalem on February 7, Reuven Rivlin considered the Vietnamese delegation’s visit to Israel as a demonstration of the growing cooperation, including in defence, between the two countries.

He expressed his admiration for Vietnam and its late President Ho Chi Minh, as well as the enormous achievements the country has attained recently. 

He said the outcomes of bilateral cooperation have helped strengthen mutual trust and met the two people’s interests for the sake of peace, stability and development in their respective regions and the world.

Sen. Lt. Gen. Vinh, who was leading a delegation of the Defence Ministry on a visit to Israel from February 6-9, underlined Vietnam’s consistent foreign policy of being a friend and a trustworthy partner in the international community. 

In the policy of multilateralising and diversifying foreign relations, Vietnam attaches importance to bolstering the friendship and cooperation with Middle Eastern nations, including Israel. 

He also informed the host President about the outcomes of defence links, thanking Israeli leaders in general and Rivlin in particular for advocating and providing favourable conditions for the two defence ministries’ fruitful cooperation.

He hoped for the President’s continued support and assistance to the ministries in building up a reliable and practical partnership which can be on par with the countries’ flourishing ties.

Earlier the same day, Deputy Minister Vinh had talks with Director General of the Israeli Defence Ministry Udi Adam. 

They exchanged viewpoints on international and regional issues of shared concern while voicing their delight at the expansion of bilateral friendship and cooperation in various spheres, including defence.

On the basis of the sound relationship, Vietnam wants both sides to straightforwardly discuss measures for enhancing defence connections in a synchronous and comprehensive manner, in conformity with the memorandum of understanding on bilateral denfece relations inked in 2015, and in line with the Vietnamese Government’s policy of developing relations between Vietnam and Middle Eastern-African nations between 2016 and 2025, Vinh noted.

For his part, Director General Udi Adam described the Vietnamese officials’ visit as important to defence cooperation activities in 2017. 

He spoke highly of the Southeast Asian nation’s role and stature in the region, adding that Israel wants to join Vietnam in building a trustworthy, effective and sustainable cooperative partnership.

Both sides shared the view that increasingly effective defence cooperation will help deepen the two countries’ relations, thereby meeting their peoples’ interests and actively contributing to joint efforts towards peace, stability, cooperation and development.

Concluding the talks, the two sides signed a minutes of the Vietnamese delegation’s visit and another on building a consultation mechanism for the two ministries’ working groups.

During the trip, Vietnamese officials had meetings with Israel’s Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman and Acting National Security Advisor Jacob Nagel. 

They also visited some units and businesses in the local defence industry.

VNA