The UN peacekeeping sapper units of Vietnam and Japan have been exchanging experiences under a programme that officially kicked off in Hanoi on August 21. 

During the programme that runs during August 20-24, Vietnamese and Japanese peacekeeping sappers will brief each other on their operations.

During the programme that runs during August 20-24, the two sides will brief each other on their operations and share expertise in implementing specific tasks and activities, coordinating with other concerned parties in localities, and handling difficult situations. 

They also talked today about the orientations of cooperation in UN peacekeeping operations between Vietnam and Japan for the time to come. 

In his opening remarks, Colonel Hoang Kim Phung, Director of the Vietnam Peacekeeping Department, said cooperation amongst UN peacekeeping operations is one of the content topics that drew the attention of both defence ministries. 

The sharing of experience in peacekeeping operations by Japanese sappers would be practical and valuable support for Vietnam, especially at a time when the country is stepping up efforts to deploy a peacekeeping sapper unit to a mission in 2020, Phung added. 

Joining the UN peacekeeping operations is a dominant policy of the Vietnamese State, Government, and army, which aims to prove Vietnam as a prestigious, active, and responsible member of the international community, contributing to maintaining security, stability, and peace around the world. 

Nozomu Yamashita, from the Japanese Ministry of Defence’s Bureau of Defence Policy, spoke highly of the efforts by the Vietnamese Ministry of National Defence in deploying UN peacekeeping forces, sharing his hope that with their knowledge and capacity, the Vietnamese officers will successfully complete their tasks in UN missions. 

Japan has sent sappers to UN peacekeeping missions in Cambodia, Golan Heights, Timor-Leste, Haiti, and South Sudan. –VNA