Deputy Defence Minister Sen. Lieut. Gen Nguyen Chi Vinh (Second from right) at the meeting of the European Union Military Committee at the level of EU Chiefs of Defence on November 21

At the event, both sides spoke highly of the cooperative ties in the field in recent times, saying that the establishment of the security-defence dialogue for the first time contributes to promoting mutual understanding and furthering practical and effective cooperation in the coming time.

They reviewed the regional and international issues of mutual interest, talked over ways to carry out the EU-Vietnam Framework Participation Agreement (FPA) inked in October, as well as highlighted Vietnam’s prospects to engage in the EU’s crisis management activities.

Deputy Defence Minister Sen. Lieut. Gen Nguyen Chi Vinh, who co-chaired the dialogue, recommended Vietnam and the EU exchange and share experience in various areas, while hailing the EU’s support for the training centre of the Vietnam’s Department of Peacekeeping Operations.

He took the occasion to invite the EU and its member states to attend the conference on the roles of women in the UN’s peacekeeping mission that will be jointly held by Vietnam and the UN in 2020 when the Southeast Asian country becomes a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council.

The EU reaffirmed its stance of supporting freedom, security and safety of aviation and navigation in the East Sea, as well as appreciated Vietnam’s role in the Asia-Pacific for regional and global peace and stability.

Earlier, Vinh attended a meeting of the European Union Military Committee at the level of EU Chiefs of Defence on November 21, underlining Vietnam’s interest in the EU’s training and education missions in African nations.

He laid stress on Vietnam’s willingness to cooperate with the EU as a responsible partner of the bloc based on the comprehensive partnership and cooperation between the two sides, particularly after they inked the FPA.

Within the framework of the meeting, the Vietnamese representative, 28 EU Chiefs of Defence, and other guests discussed issues related to EU Training Missions in Mali, Somali and Central Africa, with focus on impacts of climate change on training and education missions and women’s role in training missions and measures to improve operation efficiency.

On the sidelines of the meeting, Vinh had bilateral working sessions with Chairman of the EU Military Committee General Claudio Graziano, UK Chief of the Defence Staff General Nicholas Carter, Deputy Secretary General for Common Security and Defence Policy and Crisis Response at the European External Action Service (EEAS) Pedro Serano, and defence representatives from the UK, Germany, France and the Republic of Korea to discuss measures to promote cooperation in the time ahead.

During his stay in Brussels, Vinh attended and delivered a speech at the conference on enhancing defence cooperation between Vietnam and EU jointly held by the EEAS, the Vietnamese Embassy in Belgium, Luxembourg, the Vietnamese delegation to the EU, and the European Institute for Asian Studies./.VNA