Defence Minister Sen. Lieut. Gen Phan Van Giang (R) and Singaporean Ambassador to Vietnam Jaya Ratnam (Photo: qdnd.vn)The Vietnamese minister congratulated the two ambassadors on their appointment,and thanked the two countries for their support for Vietnam during the yearVietnam served as Chair of ASEAN in 2020.
Giang expressed his belief that the diplomats will fulfill their important task,contributing to further promoting the Vietnam – Philippines and Vietnam –Singapore strategic partnerships.
Minister Giang and Philippine Ambassador Montealegres highly valued theimplementation of the defence cooperation agreement between their defence ministries,saying that the bilateral defence relations have been deepened with practicalresults in many fields such as delegation exchange, dialogue, consultation,training and cooperation within the multilateral framework.
Amid complicated developments of the COVID-19 pandemic, the two sides agreed toorganise suitable activities in the virtual form, especially the Defence PolicyDialogue, the joint working group on defence cooperation,bilateral navy and air defence consultations, cooperationin COVID-19 prevention, and support and settlement of issues related to fishermenin a humanitarian spirit.
Meanwhile, Giang and the Singaporean Ambassador agreed that on the basis ofresults from the implementation of the agreement on bilateral defencecooperation, the two sides will promote the organization of a number of virtualmeetings, including the deputy ministerial-level defence policydialogue, meetings of joint working groups on bilateraldefence cooperation and naval cooperation, security dialogues, and cooperationactivities in responding to COVID-19.
The two sides pledged to continue to complete procedures and sign an agreement onbilateral defence cooperation between the two governments in 2021 to replace the2009 document, thus contributing to strengthening intra-ASEAN solidarity andimproving ASEAN's position in the region and the world./.
VNA
