Sen. Lt. Gen. Nguyễn Trường Thắng, Deputy Minister of National Defence, gives decisions to the two officers. — VNA/VNS Photo Trọng Đức

HÀ NỘI — The Ministry of National Defence held a ceremony in Hà Nội on Friday to present decisions by the President and the Minister of National Defence assigning officers to UN peacekeeping missions at the UN Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA) and the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS).

Two officers preparing to deploy are Sen. Lt. Col. Nguyễn Mỹ Hạnh, an English-language lecturer in the Department of Foreign Languages at the Military Academy of Logistics, who will replace Lt. Col. Nguyễn Văn Thứ as senior training staff officer at UNISFA; and Capt. Trương Tấn Huy, a logistics assistant at Battalion 871 of Brigade 954 under Naval Region 4 of the Việt Nam People’s Navy, who will take over from Maj. Lê Vinh Hoàng as a military observer at UNMISS.

Sen. Lt. Gen. Nguyễn Trường Thắng, Deputy Minister of National Defence and head of the ministry's Steering Committee for Việt Nam's participation in UN peacekeeping operations, chaired the ceremony and praised the Vietnam People’s Army’s (VPA) achievements in UN peacekeeping over the past more than 12 years.

He congratulated the officers on being entrusted with the assignments by the Party, State and army, and said he is confident they will build on the traditions of the VPA and Việt Nam’s peacekeeping force to carry out their duties successfully.

The ministry’s Vietnam Department of Peacekeeping Operations said the officers are chosen for their political qualities, morality, professional competence, military expertise, foreign-language proficiency, health and ability to meet the demands of an international working environment.

Hạnh brings extensive field experience from two earlier deployments, including the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilisation Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA) in 2020-21 and UNISFA in 2023-24. Huy, meanwhile, has completed training and professional development courses directly relevant to the military observer role. — VNA/VNS