Defence Minister General Ngo Xuan Lich (L) and Thai Defence Minister General Prawit Wongsuwan (Source: VNA) Bangkok (VNA) - Defence Minister General Ngo Xuan Lich hailed Thailand’s role in promoting defence cooperation among ASEAN member states at his meeting with Thai Defence Minister General Prawit Wongsuwan in Bangkok on July 10.
Lich is leading a Vietnamese delegation to attend the ASEAN Defence Ministers’ 13th Meeting (ADMM-13) in Bangkok.
During the meeting, he congratulated Thailand on its successful organisation of the general election and establishment of the new government.
He expressed his belief that under the reign of King Rama X and the new government’s administration, Thailand will continue to stably develop and the bilateral cooperation will be more effective and practical.
Minister Lich also congratulated the Thai Ministry of Defense on successfully organizing a series of defense-military meetings, stressing that he believes the next events organized by Thailand will contribute to maintaining solidarity and taking its leading role promoting military-defense cooperation within ASEAN.
Vietnam supports Thailand’s initiatives during its term as the Chair of ASEAN, including discussion of illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, the role of armed forces and defense agencies; a draft of ADMM initiatives to ensure substantive cooperation; the role of defense agencies and armies of ASEAN member nations in supporting border management.
For his part, Prawit thanked Vietnam for its support for his country as the Chair of ASEAN, affirming that Thailand will strongly support Vietnam to assume the ASEAN Chairmanship in 2020.
The Thai new government will continuously attach importance to strengthening cooperation with Vietnam across fields, including defence bond, he stressed.
The Ministers agreed that the two sides should fully tap existing cooperation mechanisms and further promote ties in logistics, peacekeeping, tackling post-war bomb and mine consequences, military medicine, and law enforcement at sea.
Regarding multilateral cooperation, the two sides agreed to coordinate, strengthen consultations, and support each other in multilateral defense-military mechanisms that the two sides are members. -VNA
VNA
