Hanoi (VNA) – Gen. Nguyen Tan Cuong, Chief of the General Staff of the Vietnam People’s Army (VPA) and Deputy Minister of National Defence, and Admiral Saito Akira, Chief of Staff of the Japan Maritime Self-Defence Force (JMSDF), have agreed to further elevate naval cooperation between the two countries in the time to come.
The officials reached the agreement at their meeting in Hanoi on December 11, where the two sides voiced their hope to deepen the relationship between the JMSDF and the Vietnam People’s Navy.
Cuong emphasised that the Vietnam – Japan defence cooperation has been expanded continuously and become increasingly substantive, serving as an important pillar of the bilateral relations, with prominent areas of collaboration such as all-level exchanges, human resources training, cybersecurity, and war aftermath settlement.
He highly valued the positive and fruitful cooperation between the Vietnam People’s Navy and the JMSDF, saying that this has helped enhance professional skills and technical expertise while fostering friendship and mutual understanding between the two forces.
The host affirmed that leaders of the Ministry of National Defence and the VPA’s General Staff will always support and create favourable conditions for the naval forces of the two countries to expand effective and substantive cooperation.
He showed his belief that with the foundation built over decades, high consensus, and tireless efforts by both countries' leaders and peoples, Vietnam – Japan relations will continue to progress in all fields, meeting their peoples’ interests and contributing to peace, stability, cooperation, and development in the region.
For his part, Saito spoke highly of the bilateral relations, including cooperation between the two defence ministries.
He agreed with Cuong’s views, expressing the hope that defence cooperation, particularly between the JMSDF and the Vietnam People’s Navy, will become stronger in the coming time./.
