The meeting between Deputy Defence Minister Nguyen Chi Vinh (R) and Deputy Managing Director for Asia and the Pacific in the European External Action Service Paola Pampaloni in Hanoi on February 18 (Photo: qdnd.vn)Hanoi (VNA) – The HighRepresentative of the European Union (EU) for Foreign Affairs and SecurityPolicy, Josep Borrell Fontelles has invited Vietnam tosend peacekeeping officers to join the EU training mission in Central AfricaRepublic.
Therequest was made in a letter that Deputy ManagingDirector for Asia and the Pacific in the European External Action Service(EEAS) Paola Pampaloni handedover to Deputy Defence Minister Nguyen Chi Vinh at their meeting in Hanoi onFebruary 18.
Vinh noted that the defencecooperation between Vietnam and the EU has received attention from both sides,as seen in the signing of the agreementon the establishment of a framework for Vietnam’s participation in crisismanagement activities of the EU (named the Framework Participation Agreement(FPA)) in October 2019.
According to the Vietnameseofficial, along with the Vietnam – EU Comprehensive Partnership and CooperationFramework Agreement (PCA),the Vietnam-EU Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) and the Vietnam-EUInvestment Protection Agreement (EVIPA), the signing of the FPA has contributed to promoting the comprehensivecooperation between the two sides.
Stressingthat 2020 is an important year for Vietnam as it serves the double role ofChair of ASEAN and a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council, DeputyMinister Vinh said he hopes Vietnam and the EU will increase the exchange ofdelegations at all levels and bolster joint work in different fields, includingpeacekeeping and training.
SharingVinh’s view, Pampaloni noted that the Chairman ofthe EU Military Committee, General Claudio Graziano will visit Vietnam inmid-2020, and the two sides have also planned to hold the seconddefence-security dialogue in Vietnam this year.
Those activities will help drive forward the effective defencecooperation between the EU and Vietnam, according to the EEAS Deputy Managing Director./.
VNA
