Senior Vietnamese and Malaysian officials discussed ways to beef up defence cooperation in the time ahead at talks in Hanoi on November 1.

Defence Minister Gen. Phung Quang Thanh and his Malaysian counterpart Dato Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussien touched upon the exchange of all-level delegations, the establishment of a deputy ministerial-level defence dialogue mechanism and personnel training, especially in foreign languages.

Minister Thanh hailed the visit for strengthening friendship, mutual understanding and trust between the two defence ministries towards lifting Vietnam-Malaysia ties to a strategic partnership.

He said he believes the visit marks the growing defence cooperation between the two countries.

Tun Hussien said it is his first visit to Vietnam as defence minister, noting that defence links have turned more productive in various fields under the spirit of a memorandum of understanding on defence cooperation signed between the two Governments.

The Malaysian Minister’s October 31 – November 1 visit is at the invitation of Gen. Thanh.-VNA