Engineering team No.1 before departure (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) – Deputy Minister of National Defence Sen. Lieut. Gen Hoang Xuan Chien has hailed the army and public security forces for sending new units to the United Nations peacekeeping mission for the first time this year, including an engineering unit.
Chairing a conference of the Defence Ministry’s inter-sectoral working group and steering committee on Vietnam’s participation in the UN peacekeeping operations in Hanoi on December 27, Chien said their participation in the effort has received attention from leaders of the Party, State, agencies, people from walks of life, proving that it has yielded positive results.
Their contributions have also been welcomed by leaders of the United Nations and international community, especially heads of special missions, Chien said, adding that they are pride-worthy milestones that should continue in the coming time.
The officer asked centrally-run departments and agencies to fine-tune the legal system in the regard, make thorough preparations for Level-2 Field Hospital No.5 and Engineering Unit No.2, and set up Level-2 Field Hospital No.6 and Engineering Unit No.3 for training and rotational deployment.
The army’s units, particularly the Vietnam Department of Peacekeeping Operations (VDPO), the High Command of Engineers and Military Hospital 175 must prepare resources and procure equipment for training, as well as deal with the shortage of medicines and medical equipment.
Chien suggested sending technicians to missions to repair equipment each year.
VDPO Director Maj. Gen Hoang Kim Phung said so far, the ministry has sent 520 professional officers and soldiers to four UN peacekeeping missions at four missions, including the European Union Training Mission in Central African Republic and the UN headquarters. Each year, 25 independent military officers and 247 officers and staff of the engineering unit and Level-2 Field Hospital are maintained.
This year, Vietnam assumed the role of the Chair of the Association of Asia-Pacific Peace Operations Training Centres (AAPTC) for the first time. The Defence Ministry held conferences with the Asia-Pacific peace operations training centres in Hanoi, drawing the participation of 18 countries and eight international organisations.
For the first time, Vietnam has successfully deployed Engineering Team No.1 with a large number of officers and huge volume of equipment to the United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA) and two officers to the European Union Training Mission in Central African Republic./.
