On December 31, the Ministry of National Defense held a formal ceremony to announce the President’s and Minister of Defense’s decisions appointing four military officers to United Nations peacekeeping missions.

All four officers were carefully selected and fully met the rigorous criteria set by the United Nations. They are now ready to replace outgoing personnel currently serving in various missions.

Among them, Lieutenant Colonel Vu Thi Lien, an officer in the Training Department of Vietnam’s Department of Peacekeeping Operations, has been selected for the position of Policy Specialist on Security and Defense at the UN Liaison Office for Peace and Security in Brussels, Belgium.

She is the first Vietnamese female officer ever to be appointed to a position within a UN liaison office, marking a significant breakthrough and an important milestone in Vietnam’s deepening, professional integration into global peacekeeping efforts.

Lieutenant Colonel Dang Thu Ha, formerly an editor at the People’s Army Newspaper, was appointed to replace First Lieutenant Nguyen Huyen Anh as a Military Public Information Officer (MPIO) at the MINUSCA mission in the Central African Republic.

With a solid journalism background, professional peacekeeping communication training, and full completion of pre-deployment courses, Lieutenant Colonel Ha is well-prepared to carry out media and public outreach tasks, helping to enhance Vietnam’s peacekeeping image in the mission area.

Captain Nguyen Huy Khai, an external relations officer from Military Hospital 175, was appointed to replace Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Huy Tuan as a Contingent-Owned Equipment (COE) Staff Officer at the MINUSCA mission.

Captain Khai has prior UN peacekeeping experience as a member of Level 2 Field Hospital No. 3 at the UNMISS mission in South Sudan, giving him hands-on knowledge of multinational, multicultural working environments.

First Lieutenant Nguyen Thi Ngoc Tram, from the Vietnam Coast Guard, was appointed to replace Lieutenant Colonel Bui Thi Minh Nguyet as a Training Staff Officer at MINUSCA.

She is the first female Coast Guard officer deployed as an individual to a peacekeeping mission. With extensive training in military observation, gender, and media, both domestically and abroad, she fully meets the demanding requirements of the mission.

At the ceremony, Senior Lieutenant General Nguyen Truong Thang, Deputy Minister of National Defense, personally handed over the appointment decisions to the four officers.

He affirmed that these individuals were outstanding officers, trusted by their agencies and units.

General Thang instructed them to quickly adapt to local conditions upon deployment and perform their assigned duties diligently and effectively.

He also emphasized the need to strictly follow the foreign policy guidelines of the Party, State, and Army; maintain discipline and security; and uphold the professional conduct of Vietnamese military personnel, both in their missions and daily life.

The Deputy Minister urged them to proudly carry forward the traditions of the Vietnam People’s Army and its blue-helmet peacekeepers, upholding the spirit of: Loyalty and dedication – Confidence and creativity – Resilience and flexibility – Persuasive negotiation – Top performance – Homeland above all.

Tran Thuong