Deputy Minister of National Defence Sen. Lieut. Gen. Nguyen Chi Vinh (right) andJapanese Ambassador to Vietnam Kunio Umeda

At a reception forJapanese Ambassador to Vietnam Kunio Umeda in Hanoi on August 13, Vinh spokehighly of the support provided by the Japanese Government and agencies through projectsregarding bomb and mine clearance, dioxin contamination remediation andassistance to Vietnamese Agent Orange (AO)/dioxin victims.

He highlighted Japan’s non-refundableofficial development assistance (ODA) to the national action centre onovercoming toxic chemicals and environment consequences in purchasing equipmentand machines in service of dioxin study and analysis.

More attention shouldbe paid to the communication work in order to help people of the two countriesand the international community better understand about their collaboration inthe work, the Deputy Minister said.

The two sides sharedthe views that national defence cooperation is one of the important pillars ofthe Vietnam-Japan extensive strategic partnership, which is developingfruitfully.

Vietnam and Japan haveexchanged all-level delegations, jointly held national defence policy dialoguesat the deputy minister level, cooperated in personnel training and sharedexperience in joining United Nations peacekeeping operations, they said.  

Vinh expressed his hopethat the two countries will step up defence ties and pay more attention to partnershipin training and settling war consequences in Vietnam.

The Vietnamese Ministry of National Defence always supports Japan to enhanceits cooperation with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), hesaid, calling on Japan to actively participate and back Vietnam’s initiatives,and provide consultations for the country in organising meetings and activitiesin 2020 when it assumes the ASEAN Chairmanship.-VNA