Delegates at the opening ceremony (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) – The Vietnamese and Indian defence ministrieslaunched a joint military exercise for United Nations peacekeeping operationscalled VINBAX 2023 in Hanoi on December 11.
The event is the fourth edition of itskind, taking place from December 11-19, with 577 personnel taking part, including 45officers from medical and engineering corps of each army, along with lecturers,communication officers and support staff.
Speaking at the opening ceremony, Director of the Vietnam Department of Peacekeeping Operations (VDPO) Col. Pham Manh Thang, who is deputy head of the exercise steering committee, said following the success of VINBAX 2022 in India, this year's event marks thesecond bilateral field exercise between the two armies held in Vietnam,contributing to strengthening Vietnam-India friendship, solidarity and defenceties within the framework of their comprehensive strategic partnership.
Col. Aseem Gupta, head of the Indian armydelegation, said the event focuses on deploying engineering and medical unitsto carry out the UN mission, thus promoting positive military cooperationbetween the two armies.
The first event was held inIndia in 2018, and the second in Vietnam in 2019. Both of them were conductedin the form of tabletop simulations. Later, the 2022 edition in Indiawas expanded and upgraded to a field exercise, as agreed by leaders of the twoministries.
VINBAX is the only bilateral trainingactivity between the Vietnamese army and a foreign partner in the field of UNpeacekeeping operations./.
