Hanoi (VNA) - Sen. Lieut.Gen. Nguyen Chi Vinh, Deputy Minister of National Defence, on July 6 held phone talks with his RoK and Indian counterparts Park Jae-min and Ajay Kumar.
Duringthe calls, the Vietnamese official briefed on Vietnam’s efforts in containingthe spread of COVID-19, stressing that thanks to the involvement of the wholepolitical system and the Government’s drastic direction, Vietnam has successfullycontrolled the pandemic.
Vietnam shares difficulties caused by the pandemic to people of the Republic ofKorea (RoK) and India, Vinh said, expressing his belief that the two countrieswill soon repel the disease.
Through his counterparts, he conveyed theinvitations of Vietnamese Defence Minister General Ngo Xuan Lich to the DefenceMinisters of the RoK and India to Vietnam and attend the ASEANDefence Ministers' Meeting Plus(ADMM ) atthe end of the year.
He expressed his readiness to organise and attend the Vietnam-RoK and Vietnam –India defence policy dialogues with his two counterparts at a right time in2020.
For his part, RoK Defence Minister Park Jae-minand Indian Defence Secretary Ajay Kumar praised Vietnam’s efforts in containing the COVID-19 pandemic, with the great contributions ofthe Vietnam People's Army.
On this occasion, Vinh and his two counterparts reviewed the results of bilateraldefence cooperation, and agreed on future cooperation directions. They affirmedtheir determination not to let COVID-19 affect defence cooperation.
The Vietnamese and RoK officials agreed to effectively implement commitmentsbetween the two ministries in terms of exchange of high-ranking delegations, UNpeacekeeping operation, cyber security, overcoming post-war consequence, anddefence industry.
They stressed the need to enhance military medicine cooperation in preventingdiseases, saying that this is necessary to deal with non-traditional securitychallenges.
Meanwhile, Vinh and his Indian counterpart emphasised that defence cooperation isone of the important pillar in the traditional friendship and comprehensivestrategic partnership between the two nations. They agreed to expandcooperation in military medicine, UN peacekeeping operation,defence industry and training.
The Vietnamese official also informed his counterparts about Vietnam’s plans toorganise activities during the year it actsas ASEAN Chair2020 and anon-permanent member of the UN Security Council in 2020-2021./.
VNA