Hanoi (VNA) – Minister of National Defence General Phan Van Giang hosted a welcome ceremony for and held talks with President of the Turkish Defence Industry Agency Haluk Görgün in Hanoi on October 13.
At the talks, Minister Giang highlighted the robust friendship and multi-faceted between the two countries over the past nearly 50 years of diplomatic relations, underscoring huge potential for cooperation, including in defence.
He said that Haluk Görgün's October 13-14 working trip carries significance as it concretises the commitment made by senior leaders of both nations to strengthen defence industry collaboration, as stated in the Vietnam–Türkiye joint statement issued during Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh’s official visit to the country in November 2023.
Both sides exchanged their notes on regional and international issues of mutual concern.
Giang laid stress on Vietnam’s consistent “Four No’s” defence policy - no joining military alliances, no siding with one country against another, no allowing another country to build its military bases or use Vietnamese territory to oppose the other, and no using or threatening to use force in international relations. He stated that the Southeast Asian country wishes to expand both bilateral and multilateral defence cooperation based on equality and mutual respect for common benefits, contributing to maintaining peace, stability, cooperation, and development in the region and the world.
The Vietnamese defence chief underscored that the procurement of defence equipment from international partners, including Türkiye, aims to enhance national defence capabilities and protect sovereignty and peace, adding Vietnam is keen to expand international cooperation in the defence industry with a view to achieving self-reliance in military equipment production. Over the past time, Vietnam and Türkiye have worked to bolster their defence industry partnership, with a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on the area signed in July, serving as a framework to enhance cooperation in line with each country’s needs and capacities. High-level delegation exchanges between the two ministries, he said, have also been strengthened, contributing to broader cooperation in defence and defence industry, as well as active participation in each other’s defence exhibitions and fairs.
Looking ahead, Giang suggested both sides continue coordination to make their cooperation deeper and more substantive, focusing on enhanced exchange of delegations at all levels, information sharing, and engagement in defence expos organised by each country.
The Vietnamese Ministry of National Defence stands ready to facilitate connections between Turkish defence companies and Vietnamese military agencies to explore products and identify suitable areas for collaboration, he stated.
Haluk Görgün, for his part, expressed sympathy to Vietnam over its losses from recent typhoons and emphasised that his visit demonstrates Türkiye’s strong commitment to advancing bilateral cooperation.
Affirming that the signed MoU as an important foundation to carry out joint projects while building trust and security in the partnership, he expressed his hope that both countries will consolidate and bolster defence partnership as well as explore new potential areas for collaboration./.
