The statement was made by the Chief of the General Staff of theVietnam People’s Army, Sen. Lt. Gen. Do Ba Ty at his talks with Chief ofJoint Staff of Japan’s Self Defence Forces Gen. Shigeru Iwasaki, inTokyo on April 15.
Sen. Lt. Gen. Ty is leading ahigh-ranking military delegation on an official friendly visit toJapan at the invitation of Gen. Shigeru Iwasaki.
The Vietnamese guest said the visit is a practical activity to mark the40 th anniversary of diplomatic ties between the two countries, andwill contribute to further stepping up bilateral defence cooperation.
He suggested that the two sides continue theimplementation of cooperation contents within the framework of the MoUon bilateral defence cooperation including delegation exchange,experience sharing and training.
He also recommendedcloser cooperation at multilateral forums such as the ASEAN RegionalSecurity Forum (ARF) and the ASEAN Defence Ministerial Meeting Plus(ADMM+) as well as in humanitarian and natural calamity supportactivities.
For his part, Gen. Shigeru Iwasakivalued the position and role of Vietnam in the region, and stressedthat Vietnam and Japan, as two nations in the Pacific-Asia, sharemany similarities. Therefore, Japan pays attention to increasingmulti-faceted cooperation with Vietnam, including in defenceindustry.
The same day, Japan’s Defence Minister Itsunori Onodera received the Vietnamese delegation.
He said that the official visit of Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abeto Vietnam has affirmed the strategic partnership between the twocountries. The minister also said he supports the cooperation betweenthe Vietnam People’s Army and Japan’s Self-Defence Forces.
Sen. Lt. Gen. Ty conveyed an invitation to visit Vietnam fromDefence Minister Gen. Tran Quang Thanh to the Japanese Defence Minister.-VNA10