Defence Minister General Ngo Xuan Lich (Source: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) - Defence Minister General Ngo Xuan Lich held phonetalks with his Russian counterpart General Sergey Shoigu on October 30, duringwhich they reviewed defence cooperation results over the past time and setforth future orientations.
Lich spoke highly of the Russian Defence Ministry’scontributions to and achievements in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic,including the research and production of “Sputnik V” vaccine.
Vietnam appreciates Russia’s policy to provide medicalsupplies and the vaccine for it, he stated, adding that his ministry wants tocontinue cooperating and sharing experience with the Russian ministry in thecontext of the complicated developments of the pandemic.
He also proposed the Russian ministry increase the number ofscholarships and expand training majors, especially those Vietnam has urgentdemand in.
General Sergey Shoigu, for his part, sent condolences to theVietnamese Government and people over the great losses caused by record floodsin the central region, and spoke highly of the Vietnamese Defence Ministry’srole in helping affected locals overcome consequences.
He affirmed Russia is willing to cooperate and shareexperience in COVID-19 prevention and control with Vietnam, and will soon carryout defence cooperation activities agreed upon by both sides.
Russia backs Vietnam’s successful organisation of activitiesin 2020 as the latter is performing its role of the ASEAN Chair, particularlythose within the ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting Plus (ADMM ) framework.
Both sides agreed to intensify cooperation at multilateralforums, and coordinate in building a set of documents on the 70-year defencecooperation between Vietnam and the Soviet Union/Russia.
Earlier, General Ngo Xuan Lich presented the VietnameseDefence Ministry’s “For the cause of building Vietnam People’s Army” insigniato Russian Ambassador Konstantin Vnukov./.
VNA
