A United Nations delegation is making an assessment and advisory visit to the Vietnam Peacekeeping Centre (VPC) from June 26-30 to examine the country’s military medicine and engineering capacity for peacekeeping.

The working session between the Vietnam Peacekeeping Centre and the UN delegation on June 26

The visit is to prepare for Vietnam’s registration for Level 2 of the UN Peacekeeping Capability Readiness System so as to send military medicine and engineering units to UN peacekeeping operations.

At a working session in Hanoi on June 26, VPC Director Colonel Hoang Kim Phung said Vietnam’s participation in UN peacekeeping activities aims to realise the foreign policy of independence, self-reliance, peace, cooperation and development. It is also to show Vietnam as a responsible member of the international community, help popularise its image and promote Vietnam’s prestige.

He noted the Vietnamese army’s engagement in UN peacekeeping operations receives much attention from all-level leaders. The country targets successfully taking over the level-2 field hospital in Bentiu city, part of the UN peacekeeping mission in South Sudan, in the second quarter of 2018. It also plans to deploy a military engineering unit to an appropriate UN mission in the near future.

Those forces are undergoing specialised and pre-deployment training so as to be ready to perform peacekeeping tasks whenever the UN requests, Phung added.

The UN delegation highly valued Vietnam’s policy on taking part in UN peacekeeping operations, stressing that it is a critical and decisive factor in the long-term deployment of forces to UN peacekeeping activities.

Bianca Selway, a representative of the UN Department for Peacekeeping Operations, said Vietnam’s specialised capacity and preparations basically meet the UN’s requirements. However, it should further step up training in foreign languages and knowledge of UN peacekeeping missions for officers in its peacekeeping force.

VNA