Major Tran Duc Huong and Second Lieutenant Nguyen Phuc Dong will serve as military observers at the South Sudan mission, bringing the total number of Vietnamese officers at the mission to five. 

At the decision handover ceremony, Deputy Chief of the General Staff Senior Lieutenant General Pham Ngoc Minh instructed the two officers to abide by rules of the UN peacekeeping mission and local laws and customs, while quickly adapting to the new situation and fulfilling their duties. 

He also advised them to keep good relations with their colleagues, the UN mission and local organisations and residents, as well as ensure safety for themselves. 

According to Sen. Lt. Gen. Minh, after more than four years officially joining in UN peacekeeping activities, Vietnam has dispatched 27 officers to UN peacekeeping missions in Central Africa and South Sudan. Recently, Vietnam has dispatched a level-2 field hospital to South Sudan. 

He said Vietnam is making necessary preparations for the second level-2 field hospital and the engineer corp, making them ready for UN peacekeeping missions. 

In June 2018, the UN recognised the Vietnam Department of Peacekeeping Operations as one of four international training centres in the region and agreed to carry out training under the three-party partnership (comprising Vietnam, the UN and a partner country). 

 The selection of Vietnam as a training venue for UN peacekeeping forces in Southeast Asia reflects the UN's appreciation of Vietnam's commitment and results the country has recorded in UN peacekeeping participation. 

 At the meeting of EU Chiefs of Defence in August 2018, the EU invited Vietnam to dispatch officers to be mobile trainers at some UN peacekeeping training centres of the EU in Central Africa, Somalia, Mali and some European countries.-VNA