Vietnamese Minister of National Defence, General Phan Văn Giang, and Alice Guitton, Director General for International Relations and Strategy at the French Ministry of the Armed Forces, held talks on Friday in Hà Nội. — Photo from People's Army Newspaper

HÀ NỘI — Vietnamese Minister of National Defence, General Phan Văn Giang, said Việt Nam-France defence ties would further develop in the time ahead, during his reception for Alice Guitton, Director General for International Relations and Strategy at the French Ministry of the Armed Forces, in Hà Nội on Friday.

Giang stressed that since the two countries established their strategic partnership in 2013, the bilateral ties have been consolidated and grown in different spheres, from politics to economy, national defence-security, culture and science-technology.

The defence cooperation has been strengthened following the official visit to France by Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính last November, adding that the sides were working towards the 50th anniversary of diplomatic ties and 10 years of the strategic partnership.

Guitton expressed her hope that the French Ministry of the Armed Forces and the Vietnamese Ministry of National Defence will boost cooperation in the areas agreed upon at the second Việt Nam-France defence strategic and cooperation dialogue, which took place earlier the same day.

The dialogue was co-chaired by Guitton and Senior Lieutenant General Hoàng Xuân Chiến, Deputy Defence Minister, during which they agreed on future cooperation.

They said that despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the bilateral defence cooperation had reaped remarkable results in delegation exchange, training, military medicine, defence industry, UN peacekeeping operations, and the settlement of war consequences.

The two countries have also coordinated and supported each other in multilateral international forums and organisations.

Việt Nam supports France’s efforts to maintain peace, stability and cooperation in the region, and stands ready to work as a bridge between France and ASEAN, heard the dialogue.

They agreed to enhance the defence cooperation based on the joint vision statement on defence cooperation for 2018-28 and the amended agreement on defence cooperation.

Accordingly, they will increase all-level meetings and exchanges, sign more cooperation documents, step up research and strategic exchanges, forge collaboration in UN peacekeeping operations, training, defence industry and war consequence settlement, and further mutual support at multilateral forums.

Regarding the South China Sea issue, both sides emphasised the significance of maintaining peace, stability, security, safety and freedom of navigation and aviation and settling disputes by peaceful measures in line with international law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. — VNS