On September 22, in Hanoi, the Ministry of National Defense organized the Launching Ceremony of Level 2 Field Hospital No. 8 and Engineering Team No. 5 to depart to perform the United Nations (UN) peacekeeping mission (PKO) at the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) and the UN Interim Security Mission in Abyei (UNISFA).
Attending the ceremony were Secretary of the Party Central Committee, Vice President Vo Thi Anh Xuan; Senior Lieutenant General Nguyen Truong Thang, Member of the Party Central Committee, Deputy Minister of National Defense, Head of the Inter-sectoral Working Group, Head of the Steering Committee of the Ministry of National Defense on participating in UN PKO activities.
Information at the ceremony, Major General Pham Manh Thang, Director of the Vietnam PKO Department (Ministry of National Defense), said that Level 2 Field Hospital No. 8 includes 63 soldiers, performing the task of replacing the forces of Level 2 Field Hospital No. 7 at the UNMISS Mission (Bentiu, South Sudan).
Engineering Team No. 5 consists of 184 officers and staff, mobilized from the Air Defense - Air Force Service, the Navy Service, military regions, corps, armed services and the Vietnam Peacekeeping Department. The team sets off to perform tasks at the UNISFA Mission (Abyei area), based on inheriting the experience and results of task performance of Engineering Team No. 4.
On behalf of the Party and State leaders, Vice President Vo Thi Anh Xuan presented the National Flag, the Decision to send to perform the UN PKO mission and the painting "Uncle still marching with us" to Level 2 Field Hospital No. 8 and Engineering Team No. 5, expressing the belief and expectation of the Party, State and people for the Vietnamese forces before departing to perform international missions.
The Vice President affirmed that Vietnam is an active and responsible member of the UN, always steadfast in its foreign policy of independence, self-reliance, self-strengthening, peace, friendship, cooperation and development, multilateralization, diversification of foreign relations; proactively and actively participating in multilateral cooperation mechanisms to solve global challenges, including traditional and non-traditional security issues. A very specific manifestation is participating in UN PKO activities.
The Vice President noted that Level 2 Field Hospital No. 8 and Engineering Team No. 5 need to uphold political bravery, solidarity, strict discipline, proactively overcome difficulties, well comply with UN regulations and laws of the host country, maximize capacity and professional skills to excellently complete assigned tasks, contributing to embellishing the image of Vietnamese blue helmet soldiers in the hearts of international friends.
Speaking to assign tasks, Senior Lieutenant General Nguyen Truong Thang requested officers and staff of Level 2 Field Hospital No. 8 and Engineering Team No. 5 to continue to thoroughly grasp the foreign policy of the Party and State, strictly comply with Vietnamese law, UN regulations, mission regulations and laws of the host country.
