The opening ceremony for United Nations staff officer training course. — VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI — A United Nations staff officer training course kicked off at the Hà Nội-based Việt Nam Department of Peacekeeping Operations on Monday within the framework of Canada's Military Training and Cooperation Programme (MTCP).

Lieutenant General Nguyễn Trọng Bình, Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Việt Nam People's Army (VPA), and Canadian Ambassador to Việt Nam Shawn Steil co-chaired the opening ceremony.

With the participation of 64 lecturers, coordinators, and officers, the course will equip the staff officers with professional knowledge and skills.

It is also set to raise Việt Nam's capacity for organising intensive international training courses on UN peacekeeping operations and developing a contingent of UN peacekeeping lecturers, and strengthen the friendship and cooperation between Việt Nam and Canada and international partners in this regard.

In his remarks, Bình highlighted the whole-hearted, valuable support from Canada to Việt Nam in the preparation and deployment of forces for UN peacekeeping operations over the past 10 years, especially in training.

This is the first training of its kind co-organised by Việt Nam and Canada, and the fourth intensive international training course on UN peacekeeping jointly held in Việt Nam by the two countries, he added.

For his part, Steil emphasised the Việt Nam-Canada cooperation in peacekeeping with the signing of a memorandum of understanding in 2023, saying the course further demonstrates their growing collaboration in this field. — VNS