Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Vietnam People's Army (VPA) Lieutenant General Nguyen Van Nghia and Chief of Staff of the Japan Ground Self-Defence Force General (JGSDF) Yoshida Yoshihide inspect the guards of honour. (Photo: VNA)Tokyo (VNA) – Deputy Chief of the General Staff ofthe Vietnam People's Army (VPA) Lieutenant General Nguyen Van Nghia joinedtalks with Chief of Staff of the Japan Ground Self-Defence Force General (JGSDF)Yoshida Yoshihide on May 25, during his working visit to Japan.
The two sides highly valued achievements obtained in the cooperationof the countries’ ground forces, which contribute to the extensive, practicaland efficient development of the Vietnam-Japan bilateral defence cooperation.
Lt. Gen. Nghia affirmed that the VPA General Staff standsready to join hands with the JGSDF in the effective implementation ofcooperation programmes, including capacity building in United Nationspeacekeeping operations; search and rescue; and military medicine, amongothers.
For his part, Gen. Yoshida expressed his belief that withdue attention and support by leaders of the defence ministries, togetherwith efforts by relevant agencies, the countries’ defence cooperation in general and collaboration between ground forces in particular will continue to flourish, aligningwith the Japan-Vietnam extensive strategic partnership in the new developmentperiod.
Japan hopes that the two sides will effectively maintaincurrent cooperation fields in the coming time, and seek new ones of commonconcern and high feasibility.
During the talks, the sides exchanged viewpoints on globaland regional security issues of shared concern.
Vietnam has been pursuing a foreign policy of independence,self-reliance, peace, friendship, cooperation and development as well asdiversification and multilateralisation of external relations, Lt. Gen. Nghia reiterated.
He affirmed the country’s persistent stance of solving alldisputes, including the East Sea issue, through peaceful measures in accordancewith international law, particularly the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of theSea (UNCLOS).
Vietnam welcomes initiatives and ideas contributing topeace, stability and cooperation in each region and the world, the officialsaid./.
