Vietnam co-chairs 15th meeting of Experts' Working Group on Peacekeeping Operations

The 15th Meeting of the Experts' Working Group on Peacekeeping Operations (EWG PKO) Cycle 4 for the 2021-2023 period, within the framework of the ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting Plus (ADMM-Plus), took place on December 3 via videoconference under the co-chair of Colonel Mac Duc Trong, head of Vietnam EWG PKO and Matsuzawa Tomoko , head of Japan EWG PKO.

An overview of the meeting (Photo: VNA)
An overview of the meeting (Photo: VNA)

Addressing the meeting, Matsuzawa said that pre-deployment training and the improvement of capacity for peacekeeping forces are major discussion contents of the meeting, aiming to prevent threats to the safety of the forces while performing their tasks at the site and ensuring the prestige of the UN mission in the host country.

Sharing Matsuzawa’s idea, Colonel Trong said that amid COVID-19 situation, the work is even more important and become a challenge for countries that send its forces to UN peacekeeping missions.

Colonel Trong asked participants to share their knowledge and experience as well as ideas in pre-deployment training and the improvement of capacity for peacekeeping forces, thus enhancing the operational efficiency of peacekeeping activities of all UN member countries.

Participants at the event discussed a wide range of issues, including methods to improve the quality of pre-deployment training and the activities to improve the capacity of peacekeeping forces amid pandemic situation; measures to increase the number of women peacekeepers; the major contents of the Field Training Exercise (FTX) and the Initial Planning Conference (IPC) for FTX in March 2020 in Vietnam.

The co-chair and active engagement of Vietnam in the meeting reflected the positive and proactive role of the country as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council and the co-chair of the EWG PKO Cycle 4 for the 2021-2023 period, affirming the role, prestige and position as well as contributions of Vietnam in multilateral cooperation mechanisms on UN peacekeeping operations.