RoK to strengthen cooperation with Vietnam in sailor training hinh anh 1Hannara training ship (Photo: VNA)
Seoul (VNA) – The Republic of Korea (RoK)’s Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries (MOF) said it will continue to cooperate with Vietnam in sailor and navy officer training.

Recently, the ministry held an online conference to share the outcomes during the use of Hannara training ship, which was handed over by the Korea Maritime and Ocean University to the Vietnam Maritime University. During the event, participants also discussed the next steps in its sailor training cooperation plan with Vietnam.

In a statement released after the conference, Korean Minister of Oceans and Fisheries Moon Seong-hyeok said that at the RoK-Vietnam high-level conference in 2018, Vietnam asked for the RoK’s support in large-scale training ship to serve training activities.

In 2019, the two sides reached agreement and in September 2020, the RoK handed over the Hannara training vessel, which has a tonnage of 3,460 tonnes, to the Vietnamese side. After arriving in Vietnam, the ship was renamed Viet-Han to mark the friendship with the RoK and put into use for training.

At the conference, Prof. Nguyen Thanh Son from the Vietnam Maritime University briefed participants on the results from the use of the ship in Vietnam. He said that since January 2021, the ship has supported the training of 400 trainees and 60 lecturers, helping shorten training time for maritime engineers from five years to four.

At the event, both sides discussed the next plans of cooperation to make the best use of the ship and expand the marine training of Vietnam.

Kim Hyun-tae, General Director for International Cooperation Policies at the MOF, said that under the memorandum of understanding between the Korea Maritime Institute and the Vietnam Maritime University, right after COVID-19 is controlled, the two sides will continue to organise conference for academic exchange in the ship. The RoK will welcome the Viet-Han ship at the Busan port and organise lectures by Korean experts for Vietnamese trainees on the ship.

Kim expressed belief that through the training activities using the vessel, Vietnam will train more high-quality sailors./.
VNA