Vietnamese Deputy Minister of National Defence Sen. Lieut. Gen. Nguyen Chi Vinh at the event (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) – The third Vietnam – Australia defence policy dialogue washeld in Canberra, the capital city of Australia, on October 29.
Theevent was co-chaired by Vietnamese Deputy Minister of National Defence Sen.Lieut. Gen. Nguyen Chi Vinh and Australian Deputy Secretary Strategic Policy and Intelligence Peter Tesch.
The two sides discussed regional and global issues of mutualconcern, including issues regarding the ASEAN Year 2020 when Vietnam assumesthe role of ASEAN Chair.
Agreeing with Vietnam’s stance on the settlement of the EastSea issue, the Australian side affirmed the importance of freedom of navigationand aviation and stressed that disputes need to be settled through peaceful measuresin line with international law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention onthe Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
On bilateral defence ties, the two sides spoke highly of achievementsover the past years within the framework of the Memorandum of Understanding onbilateral defence cooperation signed in 2010 and the Declaration on JointVision for Enhancing Defence Cooperation inked in 2018, thus making activecontributions to the Vietnam – Australia strategic partnership.
They pledged to continue further promoting relations in thefields of dialogues, consultations, exchange of delegations, education andtraining, the United Nations peacekeeping mission and maritime security, aswell as uphold women’s role and gender equality in defence activities.
The Australian side promised to assist the VietnameseMinistry of National Defence in successfully holding defence conferences withinthe framework of the ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting Plus when Vietnam takesover the ASEAN Chair next year.
The Australian side expected that Vietnam would support theinitiative to hold the ASEAN – Australia Defence Ministers’ Informal Meeting.The Vietnamese side agreed in principle the proposal and asked Australia tocontinue consultations to reach consensus from other ASEAN member states.
The Australian side informed that its Minister for Defence LindaReynolds will pay an official visit to Vietnam next year at the invitation ofher Vietnamese counterpart Gen. Ngo Xuan Lich.
They assigned the two defence ministries to work closelytogether to ensure the success of the visit./.
VNA
