Deputy Defence Minister Sen. Lieut. Gen. Hoàng Xuân Chiến on Friday hosted a reception in Hà Nội for the Indian Defence Attache, Col. Dheeraj Kotwal. — VNA/VNS Photo Hồng Pha

HÀ NỘI — Deputy Defence Minister Sen. Lieut. Gen. Hoàng Xuân Chiến on Friday hosted a reception in Hà Nội for the Indian Defence Attache, Col. Dheeraj Kotwal.

He said that on the basis of traditional friendship and comprehensive strategic partnership, the Việt Nam-India defence cooperation had been steadily consolidated and strengthened, achieving practical results.

The Vietnamese military chief praised the effective coordination between the relevant agencies of both sides in realising cooperation contents on the ground of signed documents and agreements, Chiến noted.

Exchange activities and cooperation mechanisms were developed in a flexible manner, achieving concrete and outstanding results in various fields such as human resources training, effective implementation of aid packages, and credit from the Indian Government to Việt Nam's Ministry of National Defence. Cooperation between combat forces, collaboration in defence industry and United Nations peacekeeping, and mutual support in multilateral forums were also part of the planned activities between the two countries.

The official expressed his belief that Col Kotwal would closely coordinate with relevant agencies of the Vietnamese Ministry of National Defence to effectively implement the cooperation contents that have been agreed upon by the leaders of the defence ministries. This fell in line with the Joint Vision Statement on defence partnership towards 2030, which focuses on such activities as cooperation in defence industry, UN peacekeeping, cyber security, maritime security and transfer of used boats.

The Indian Defence Attache emphasised that bilateral defence cooperation was one of the bright spots in the relationship between the two countries.

Col. Kotwal affirmed that in his position, he would make important contributions to promoting the development of the traditional friendship and comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries in general, and defence cooperation in particular. — VNS