Vietnam, Russia facilitate bilateral defence cooperation: Minister

Hanoi (VNA) – The Vietnam – Russia defence relations and military-technical cooperation have always been supported and facilitated by leaders of the two countries to be expanded and deepened across fields, stated Defence Minister Gen. Phan Van Giang on September 4.

He made the statement while receiving Russian Deputy Minister of Defence Aleksei Iurievich, who is in Vietnam to attend the closing ceremony of the International Army Games 2021’s “Sniper Frontier” and “Emergency Area” competitions hosted by Vietnam.

Highlighting the countries’ traditional friendship, Giang affirmed Vietnam always values the development of its comprehensive strategic partnership with Russia as a priority in its policy for external relations.

Since the pandemic broke out, the defence ministries of Vietnam and Russia have assisted each other in prevention and control work in their respective nation, he noted.

Appreciating Russia’s donation of its Sputnik V vaccine for Vietnam in the past time and its commitment to further offering 20 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine this year, the minister hoped more vaccine support will come particularly amid the current complicated developments of the epidemic in Vietnam.

Considering the International Army Games an important multilateral activity attracting the participation of many nations, including Vietnam, Giang said the Vietnamese teams have so far earned encouraging results and had a chance to exchange experience in military training and weapon use.

For his part, Aleksei Yurievich congratulated Vietnam in successfully hosting the two competitions and expressed his wish for Vietnam’s further support for the Army Games next year./.