VietNamNet Bridge – A delegation of the Steering Committee on the Search and Repatriation of Remains of Fallen Soldiers (Committee 1237) held a working session with the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) in Washington on July 28, according to the Quan doi Nhan dan (People's Army) newspaper.

Senior Lieutenant General Nguyen Thanh Cung, Deputy Minister of National Defence, meets with Mr. Montague Winfied, US Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defence for Prisoner of War/Missing Personnel Affairs (POW/MIA) in Washington DC on July 24th.— Photo qdnd.vn

At the meeting, Deputy Defence Minister Sen. Lieut. Gen. Nguyen Thanh Cung who is deputy head of Committee 1237, affirmed that the Vietnamese Government will continue to facilitate and effectively cooperate with the US in the search for remains of both sides' soldiers missing in action (MIA).

He noted that Viet Nam has announced the list and opened almost all sites where Americans were believed to have gone missing during the war. In 2009 and 2011, the country allowed the US Navy's oceanographic research ship to join the search for MIA remains in the waters offshore central Viet Nam.

To date, Viet Nam has delivered 952 boxes of remains to the US, of which more than 700 sets of remains have been identified.

At present, Viet Nam and the US are conducting their 116th joint field activities with seven search teams.

The Deputy Defence Minister expressed his wish that the JPAC will promptly provide the Vietnamese side with information on dead and missing Vietnamese military men (about 200,000) as well as exchange experience in searching for MIA.

He added that Viet Nam wants to accelerate the joint search for fallen or missing Vietnamese soldiers as time has brought about great changes in landscape and many witnesses have passed away.

For his part, Lieut. Gen. Kelley Mc Keagne, JPAC Commander spoke highly of the effective cooperation between the two Governments in this field.

He proposed cooperation in training Vietnamese staff in forensic anthropology and scientific exchange.

He asked Viet Nam to continue assisting the US's search teams when they conduct two large-scale excavations in Viet Nam in the fourth quarter of 2014.

VNS/VNN