Anniversary of Vietnam People’s Army marked in Australia

Chief of the Australian Defence Force General Angus Campbell (Source: AAP)

Canberra (VNA) – The Vietnamese Embassy and the Defence Attaché Office in Australia organised a ceremony in Canberra on December 13 to mark the 75th founding anniversary of the Vietnam People’s Army (VPA) and the 30th All-People’s Defence Festival (Dec. 22).

Present at the ceremony were Chief of the Australian Defence Force General Angus Campbell, Deputy Secretary Strategic Policy and Intelligence Peter Tesh and representatives from the Department of Defence and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Australia, foreign embassies and defence attachés in Australia.

Speaking at the ceremony, Vietnamese Ambassador to Australia Ngo Huong Nam highlighted the VPA’s outstanding achievements and great contributions to the country’s national construction and defence process over the past 75 years.

He also underlined the strong development of defence relations between Vietnam and Australia since the two countries signed a memorandum of understanding on defence cooperation in November 2010.

Vietnam highly appreciated Australia’s assistance in training and providing logistic services for Vietnamese officers joining United Nations peacekeeping missions, the ambassador said.

Vietnamese Defence Attaché in Australia Sen. Lieut. Col. Tran Truong Son said Vietnam has to date established defence cooperative ties with 80 countries and international organisations.

Vietnam has joined United Nations peacekeeping missions since 2014, showing its foreign policy of independence and active integration as a responsible and reliable member of partners and the international community, Son said.

He took this occasion to introduce the most outstanding contents and strategic orientations of Vietnam’s defence policy reflected in the White Paper on Vietnam National Defence 2019.

For his part, Campbell congratulated Vietnam and the VPA on their achievements over the past years.

The completion of the White Paper on Vietnam National Defence 2019 is a milestone of the VPA, he said.

As both nations are facing a lot of challenges, Australia and Vietnam need to devise a plan to step up bilateral cooperative relations in order to ensure regional peace, prosperity and national sovereignty, Campbell said.

He also voiced his hope that defence ties between the two countries would continue to develop and open up new cooperation areas in 2020./.