Defence Ministry delegation meets officials of countries, partner

Deputy Defence Minister Sen. Lt. Gen. Hoang Xuan Chien (front, third from right) at Shangri-La Dialogue 2024 (Photo: VNA)

A delegation of the Vietnamese Ministry of National Defence have held bilateral meetings with many officials of other countries and partners while attending the 21st Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore from May 31 to June 2.

Meeting with Permanent Secretary of the Singaporean Ministry of National Defence Chan Heng Kee, Deputy Minister of National Defence Sen. Lt. Gen. Hoang Xuan Chien, who is also member of the Party Central Committee and the Central Military Commission, asked the two sides to promote the agreements reached since the two countries’ defence policy dialogue in 2023, and step up cooperation in personnel training, search and rescue, and digital transformation in military.

He also proposed extending the working period of Vietnam’s liaison offers at Singapore’s Information Fusion Centre (IFC).

Chan took in the Vietnamese side’s proposals and said Singapore will discus details in the coming time.

At the meting with Dr Bastian Giegerich, Director-General and Chief Executive of the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) – organiser of the Shangri-La Dialogue, Chien highly valued the dialogue’s role in regional security and safety, affirming that Vietnam will continue taking part in this event.

He suggested the IISS-Asia office, based in Singapore, to enhance cooperation in researches and academic exchanges with research units of Vietnam, including the Institute for Defence Strategy.

Giegerich agreed with the opinions and asked the two sides to discuss these cooperation activities for the time ahead.

During the visit to Singapore, the Vietnamese delegation visited the IFC at Changi Naval Base and gave encouragement to the liaison officers of the Vietnam People’s Army working there.

Chien and IFC leaders also looked into the centre’s structure and tasks, along with the possibility of exchanging maritime information in the future.

At the Shangri-La Dialogue 2024, Commander of the Vietnam Coast Guard Le Quang Dao delivered a speech at a session on June 1 afternoon.

He held that security, order, and safety in sea areas have continued to face many traditional and non-traditional security challenges, which requires international cooperation be enhanced to cope and deal with. He stressed that building trust is important to the success of international cooperation.

Dao noted sea-related challenges will keep increasing and developing complicatedly in the time ahead, setting new and higher requirements for international cooperation in maritime law enforcement.

Given this, the commander called on countries to further strengthen cooperation on the basis of international law, the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), and countries’ laws to implement the documents they have joined or signed in a more effective and substantive manner. He also suggested promoting the signing of new cooperation mechanisms, launching more practical and effective initiatives to resolve maritime security challenges, and pushing ahead with building trust in the implementation of the signed cooperation documents and the drafting of new ones.

On the dialogue’s sidelines, Dao also had a meeting with Seguchi Yoshio, Vice Commandant of the Japan Coast Guard./.

VNA