Gen. Nguyễn Tân Cương, Chief of the General Staff of the Việt Nam People’s Army (VPA) and Deputy Minister of National Defence (right) and Admiral Saito Akira, Chief of Staff of the Japan Maritime Self-Defence Force (JMSDF) at their meeting on December 11. — Photo from the Ministry of National Defence

HÀ NỘI — Gen. Nguyễn Tân Cương, Chief of the General Staff of the Việt Nam People’s Army (VPA) and Deputy Minister of National Defence, and Admiral Saito Akira, Chief of Staff of the Japan Maritime Self-Defence Force (JMSDF), have agreed to further elevate naval cooperation between the two countries in the time to come.

The officials reached the agreement at their meeting in Hà Nội on Thursday, where the two sides voiced their hope to deepen the relationship between the JMSDF and the Việt Nam People’s Navy.

Cương emphasised that the Việt Nam–Japan defence cooperation has been expanded continuously and become increasingly substantive, serving as an important pillar of the bilateral relations, with prominent areas of collaboration such as all-level exchanges, human resources training, cybersecurity, and war aftermath settlement.

He highly valued the positive and fruitful cooperation between the Việt Nam People’s Navy and the JMSDF, saying that this has helped enhance professional skills and technical expertise while fostering friendship and mutual understanding between the two forces.

The host affirmed that leaders of the Ministry of National Defence and the VPA’s General Staff will always support and create favourable conditions for the naval forces of the two countries to expand effective and substantive cooperation.

He showed his belief that with the foundation built over decades, high consensus, and tireless efforts by both countries' leaders and peoples, Việt Nam–Japan relations will continue to progress in all fields, meeting their peoples’ interests and contributing to peace, stability, cooperation, and development in the region.

For his part, Saito spoke highly of the bilateral relations, including cooperation between the two defence ministries.

He agreed with Cương's views, expressing the hope that defence cooperation, particularly between the JMSDF and the Việt Nam People’s Navy, will become stronger in the coming time. — VNA/VNBS