Vietnam and Singapore are keen to lift bilateral national defence relations on a par with their strategic partnership as agreed by senior leaders to mark the 40th anniversary of their diplomatic ties next year.

 Vietnam, Singapore to set up strategic partnership Promoting Vietnam-Singapore relations

Deputy Minister of National Defence Senior Lieutenant-General Nguyen Chi Vinh and Singapore's Permanent Secretary for Defence Chiang Chie Foo co-chaired the fifth Singapore-Vietnam Defence Policy Dialogue (DPD), being held from November 19-21.

 The dialogue follows Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong’s visit to Singapore last September and is regarded as a positive development given the current complex regional and international relations context.

 Both sides compared notes on regional and international issues of common concern and argued that there remain challenges to both traditional and non-traditional security arrangements. They agreed that all parties need to spare no efforts to strengthen friendship and cooperation for the sake of peace, stability and development between the two nations as well as internationally.

 The two sides emphasized the solidarity and unity of ASEAN countries as an important factor in maintaining regional peace and stability, minimising negative impacts from external parties that threaten the inner ASEAN bloc, and enhancing the regional grouping’s crucial role at multilateral forums.

On the East Sea issue, they agreed that ASEAN countries and all parties concerned should exert greater efforts in sharing their views, building confidence and devising peaceful solutions to deal with contradictions in an open and transparent manner in accordance with international law, especially the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC), towards building a new Code of Conduct in the East Sea (COC).

The two sides pledged to improve effective and practical cooperation across various fields with a focus on human resource training, military medical cooperation, and sharing experience in international peacekeeping activities.

 They also underlined the need to boost bilateral cooperation at regional multilateral forums such as the ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting (ADMM) and the ASEAN Defence Ministerial Plus Meeting (ADMM+).

 The Singaporean delegates invited Defence Minister Phung Quang Thanh to visit Singapore during the Shangri-La Dialogue which is due to take place next year.

Deputy Defence Minister Nguyen Chi Vinh also conveyed an invitation to visit Vietnam to the Singaporean Defence Minister. 

(VOV)