HÀ NỘI — Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc stated that despite coping with difficulties, the Party and State have always paid heed to building the modern regular army at a working session with the Ministry of Defence in Hà Nội on Thursday.

Deputy Prime Minister Vương Đình Huệ, Defence Minister Ngô Xuân Lịch, and ministry and sector officials attended the event.

The leader asked the army to be vigilant for sabotage plots of hostile forces, firmly safeguard the national territorial integrity, and do more for the nation building and defence.

He hailed the ministry for devising important strategies and safeguarding the national sovereignty and security in 2018, saying the army and defence forces play an important role in defending the country on the way to socialism, especially in the context of the current complex world situation.

According to the ministry, hostile forces’ sabotage activities against the Party, State and army increased this year.

The defence ministry worked to study and propose guidelines and legal regulations pertaining to military and defence, and submitted to the Political Bureau to issue strategies to protect the national sovereignty, on land and in the cyberspace.

It has promoted its key role in building the strong people’s defence and the people’s security, reinforcing the country’s defensive capacity.

The army has absolute trust in the leadership of the Party and the management of the country by the State and the Government, and its combat readiness has been boosted, the ministry said.

It has implemented soundly the task of enforcing laws at sea and along borderlines; maintained the operation of hotlines and joint patrols with other navies, contributing to safeguarding the country’s territorial, sea and island sovereignty.

Military units have played the key role in search and rescue and post-disaster rebuilding activities, helping with poverty eradication efforts in rural and remote and island areas.

International cooperation has been expanded with more high-ranking visits exchanged and defence dialogues held, contributing to building trust and balancing the country’s relations with world’s powers, and raising the country’s and the army’s prestige internationally.

Next year, the ministry will continue working to improve its research, forecast and assessment capacity to safeguard the national interests, territorial integrity, and peaceful and stable environment for the country’s development.

It will continue to build the people’s defence in association with the people’s security, with the focus on remote, rural, island and border areas.

It will focus on improving its combative power, work closely with other forces to ensure security and order in the country, proactively deal with natural disaster incidents, carry out search and rescue activities, and implement post-war consequence settlement. 

The ministry will continue improving the efficiency of external affairs, developing the defence industry, and performing well combined socio-economic development and defence tasks. — VNS