Vietnam is working on a plan to send a sapper company and a second-level field hospital to South Sudan in the time ahead as part of its effort to perform UN peacekeeping missions.

Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Vietnamese People’s Army (VPA) Lt. Gen. Vo Van Tuan on July 14 chaired a meeting with the Vietnam Peacekeeping Centre to discuss ways to realise the plan.

Director of the Defence Ministry’s Foreign Relations Department Major General Vu Chien Thang stressed the need to perfect legal documents related to UN peacekeeping operations to create a full and sufficient legal basis for the country’s participation in the work.

Representatives of the Military Medicine Department under the General Logistics Department and the High Command of Engineering said their units have worked out training plans and preparing personnel for the missions.

Lt. Gen. Tuan directed units concerned to actively arrange forces for the missions and future ones and perfect infrastructure of the Vietnam Peacekeeping Centre as well.

He also agreed with the centre’s proposals on sending delegations to work with the UN and make field trips in preparation for the deployment of the sapper company and the second-level field hospital in South Sudan.

“Participating in UN peacekeeping forces is an important political task,” Tuan confirmed, saying preparatory works must be thorough but proactive.

Two Vietnamese officers are currently working for the UN peacekeeping mission in South Sudan as liaison officers.-VNA