Minister of National Defence General Phan Văn Giang (left) meets his Lao counterpart. — Photo qdnd.vn

PHNOM PENH — Minister of National Defence General Phan Văn Giang held bilateral meetings with his counterparts from Laos, Japan and Cambodia on Tuesday while he was in Phnom Penh, Cambodia for the 16th ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting (ADMM).

Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister of Laos General Chansamone Chanyalath thanked the Government and Ministry of National Defence of Việt Nam, particularly military units stationed along the border with Laos, for their timely support at the time of hardship.

The two sides agreed that their ministries will closely coordinate with each other to organise activities to celebrate the Việt Nam-Laos and Laos-Việt Nam Solidarity and Friendship Year 2022, and implement the cooperation plan for this year.

Giang also used the occasion to express his deepest thanks to the close coordination of Lao military units in searching and repatriating remains of Vietnamese volunteering soldiers and experts killed during the war in Laos.

Meanwhile, Giang and his Japanese counterpart Kishi Nobuo highlighted the growth of the Việt Nam-Japan Strategic Partnership in multiple fields, including personnel training, capacity building, UN peacekeeping operations, cyber security, military medicine, maritime security, search and rescue and humanitarian assistance.

The Vietnamese minister asked the Japanese Ministry of Defence and Minister Kishi to work for the smooth implementation of cooperation projects on strengthening maritime law enforcement capacity building, addressing war aftermath, and search and rescue.

Minister Giang invited the Japanese minister to Vietnam Defence 2022, an international defence exhibition and conference hosted by Việt Nam for the first time this December, and also welcomed Japanese defence companies to join as exhibitors.

Talking to Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister and Ministry of National Defence Tea Bank, Giang expressed his delight at seeing his counterpart again shortly after the two countries celebrated the 45th anniversary of Prime Minister Hun Sen’s path to overthrow the Pol Pot genocidal regime.

Both ministers agreed that the two ministries will closely work together to organise bilateral defence cooperation activities in the coming time, contributing to the success of the Việt Nam-Cambodia, Cambodia-Việt Nam Friendship Year 2022 and deepening the countries’ relations. —VNS