President Nguyễn Xuân Phúc shakes hands with officers of the Vietnam Department of Peacekeeping Operations. — VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI — President Nguyễn Xuân Phúc, Chairman of the National Council of National Defence-Security, attended a ceremony in Hà Nội on Monday to honour individuals and organisations who made outstanding contributions to the United Nations peacekeeping missions.

Since June 2014, Việt Nam has sent 246 officers from the Vietnam People’s Army to UN peacekeeping missions in South Sudan, Central Africa and the UN headquarters in New York.

The UN has highly valued the expertise of the Vietnamese medical staff who left a positive impression on patients for their high sense of responsibility and dedication.

In June 2018, the UN recognised the Vietnam Department of Peacekeeping Operations as one of the four international training centres in the region to carry out training under a three-party partnership among Việt Nam, the UN and several partners.

In his speech, President Phúc commended initial encouraging results by the Vietnam Department of Peacekeeping Operations, especially officials, officers and staff of the level-2 field hospital, for fulfilling their tasks assigned by the UN and Việt Nam.

He affirmed that the deployment of the Vietnamese officers to the UN peacekeeping mission marks a new development in Việt Nam’s efforts to follow international obligations, showing itself as a responsible member, contributing to improving the global stature and prestige of the country and the Vietnam People’s Army in particular, as well as enhancing international cooperation in national defence-security. — VNS