Vietnam’s Deputy Minister of National Defence Sen. Lt. Gen. Nguyen Chi Vinh held online talks with Jody Thomas, Deputy Minister of Canada’s Department of National Defence and Peter Tesch, Australia Department of Defence’s Deputy Secretary for Strategic Policy & Intelligence.
Also, ambassadors of Canada and Australia as well as military attaches to Vietnam took part in the online meeting which took place yesterday.
During the meeting, Vinh told the Canadian and Australian officials about the situation of COVID-19 in Vietnam. He attributed the favourable outcomes in curbing the disease to unrelenting efforts of the whole political system with the People’s Army of Vietnam playing a pivotal role.
While highlighting the relevance of international collaboration in the war against COVID-19, he thanked Australian and Canadian defence bodies for cooperating to share relevant information on prevention, control, research and treatment of COVID-19. He expressed hope that the joint work would continue for long.
Also, Vinh and the meeting attendees evaluated the outcomes of Vietnam–Canada and Vietnam–Australia defence ties in the past and deliberated on reaching an agreement on future orientations especially on military medical coordination in prevention and control of diseases. The countries pledged that the pandemic will not be allowed to obstruct their growing cooperation.
The Canadian and Vietnamese officials expressed their happiness at success recorded in the relationship between the two countries after their Ministers of Defence exchanged visits. The Canadian officials revealed there are plans to establish a military attaché office in Vietnam before the end of the year and both sides agreed to establish a bilateral defence policy dialogue platform geared toward constructing a 3-year cooperation scheme for the defence ministries of both countries.
Vinh stated that the Defence Ministry of Vietnam is committed to the implementation of defence cooperation with Canada and Australia based on signed papers and agreements for the benefit of the countries and the region.
He also said that Vietnam supports the responsible participation of Canada in the region and commended the successful hosting the first informal ASEAN–Australia defence ministers’ meeting by Australia.
