Director of the Foreign Relations Department at the Ministry of Defence Lieut. Gen Vu Chien Thang and Director of Defence Policy Office of Singapore Col Amos Yeo co-chaired a virtual meeting on bilateral defence cooperation and the ASEAN Chairmanship Year in 2020 on 13 August.

Director of the Foreign Relations Department at the Ministry of Defence Lieut. Gen Vu Chien Thang (centre) speaks at the virtual meeting (Photo: www.qdnd.vn)

They agreed to overcome obstacles caused by the COVID-19 pandemic to promote the implementation of defence cooperation between Viet Nam and Singapore in the time to come, at the same time seek for suitable cooperation measures in the new context.

They also discussed the signing of a new memorandum of understanding (MoU) on bilateral defence cooperation based on the previous one inked in September 2009.

Defence officers of Viet Nam and Singapore will continue exchanging views on the draft MoU in upcoming meetings.

At the event, the two sides affirmed the importance and efficiency of the defence policy dialogue mechanism at deputy ministerial level and the joint working group.

They spoke highly of cooperation results following the seventh meeting of the joint working group in May 2019 between the two Defence Ministries, with practical and effective activities, including the exchange of delegations, training and cooperation in naval and air forces, army medical corps, and consultation for Viet Nam’s ASEAN Chairmanship Year 2020.

Singapore pledged to closely collaborate with Viet Nam at multilateral forums, enhance cooperation with the country within the ASEAN framework and support Viet Nam to successfully assume the role of ASEAN Chair this year.

Source: VNA