On the afternoon of October 29, according to information from the Propaganda Department (General Department of Politics of the Vietnam People's Army), on the occasion of accompanying General Secretary To Lam and his wife on an official visit to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, on the evening of October 28 (local time, at Wellington/ London cargo building, United Kingdom), General Phan Van Giang - Politburo member, Deputy Secretary of the Central Military Commission, Minister of National Defense of Vietnam - had a bilateral meeting with Mr. Vernon Coaker - Secretary of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland's National Defense Secretary.
At the bilateral meeting, General Phan Van Giang emphasized that General Secretary To Lam's official visit to the UK is of great special significance, affirming Vietnam's importance and priority in developing relations with the UK in all areas of cooperation, including the defense sector.
According to General Phan Van Giang, the Vietnam - UK defense cooperation relationship has been implemented in accordance with the orientation, in accordance with the Memorandum of Understanding on bilateral defense cooperation signed in 2017 and agreed between the leaders of the two countries' Ministries of National Defense, achieving many positive and outstanding results in areas such as: Group exchange; training; security and safety at sea; defense industry; United Nations peacekeeping.
Regarding the direction of bilateral cooperation in the coming time, General Phan Van Giang suggested that the two sides continue to closely coordinate to effectively implement key contents such as: Continue to promote delegation exchanges at all levels, especially high-level delegations; strengthen cooperation in the fields of training, marine, defense industry, United Nations peacekeeping, hydrological, and cooperation between defense research institutes.
General Phan Van Giang affirmed that the Vietnamese Ministry of National Defense is ready to accept British soldiers to study Vietnamese at the Academy of Military Sciences and the International Defense Official Course at the National Defense Academy.
General Phan Van Giang also thanked the UK for sending a delegation and businesses to exhibit at the Vietnam International Defense Exhibition 2024; hoping that the UK will continue to attend the Exhibition in the next event.
Welcoming General Phan Van Giang to accompany General Secretary To Lam on an official visit to the UK, Secretary of State of the Defence Department Vernon Coaker emphasized that Vietnam is one of the UK's important partners in the field of defense cooperation, in which, cooperation in exchanging experiences is one of the key contents that the UK is interested in promoting.
Mr. Vernon Coaker affirmed that he will make further efforts to contribute to promoting the Vietnam - UK relationship in general and cooperation between the two countries' defence ministries in particular to become increasingly developed and effective.
General Phan Van Giang and Secretary of State of the British Defence Department Vernon Coaker agreed to assign the functional agencies of the two Ministries of National Defense to actively promote and implement the contents agreed upon at the meeting.
