Politics

Vietnam, Australia explore expanded defence cooperation in new areas

Vietnam attaches great importance to its relationship with Australia and regards defence cooperation as a key pillar of bilateral ties, said Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Defence General Phan Van Giang

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Defence General Phan Van Giang (R) and Australian Ambassador to Vietnam Gillian Bird at their meeting in Hanoi on July 29, 2026. (Photo: VNA)
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Defence General Phan Van Giang (R) and Australian Ambassador to Vietnam Gillian Bird at their meeting in Hanoi on July 29, 2026. (Photo: VNA)

Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnam attaches great importance to its relationship with Australia and regards defence cooperation as a key pillar of bilateral ties, said Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Defence General Phan Van Giang at a reception for Australian Ambassador to Vietnam Gillian Bird in Hanoi on July 29.

He expressed satisfaction that joint work has continued to develop in a practical and effective manner under the countries’ 2010 memorandum of understanding on defence cooperation and the 2018 joint vision statement on enhancing defence cooperation, covering a broad range of areas.

Expressing appreciation to the Australian Government and Department of Defence for providing military transport aircraft to assist Vietnam in deploying its level-2 field hospital to the United Nations peacekeeping mission in South Sudan, the Deputy PM said he hopes the two sides will continue to deepen existing engagements while expanding collaboration into new areas of mutual interest.

Priority areas include exchanges of delegations at all levels, particularly high-level ones, search and rescue, cooperation between the two countries' border guard and coast guard forces, training, United Nations peacekeeping operations, defence industry, post-war recovery, and mutual consultation and support within regional defence cooperation mechanisms, especially the ASEAN Defence Ministers' Meeting Plus (ADMM-Plus).
Giang also welcomed Australia's proposal to send experts to Vietnam in 2026 to exchange expertise on the use of archival databases held by both countries relating to Vietnamese soldiers during the war. He said the initiative would contribute to Vietnam's ongoing nationwide 500-day-and-night campaign to accelerate the search, recovery and identification of the remains of fallen soldiers.

On the occasion, he invited leaders of Australia's Department of Defence and Australian defence industry enterprises to attend the Vietnam International Defence Expo 2026, scheduled for December.

For her part, Bird highly praised the bilateral relationship in general and defence cooperation in particular. She welcomed the positive progress achieved in the countries’ defence ties and expressed Australia's desire to further deepen practical and effective cooperation with Vietnam, thereby contributing to peace, stability and prosperity in the region and beyond./.

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