Vietnam joins drill on peacekeeping, mine action in Indonesia

Vietnam is taking part in a field exercise on peacekeeping operations and humanitarian mine action that opened at the Indonesia Peace and Security Centre in Sentul city on September 16.

The Vietnamese delegation takes in the field exercise on peacekeeping operations and humanitarian mine action in Indonesia (Photo: VNA)
The Vietnamese delegation takes in the field exercise on peacekeeping operations and humanitarian mine action in Indonesia (Photo: VNA)

The drill until September 20 comes within the framework of the experts’ working groups of the ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting (ADMM) and the ADMM Plus.

It is attended by more than 500 personnel from the 10 ASEAN members and eight partner countries, namely the US, China, the Republic of Korea, New Zealand, India, Russia, Australia and Japan.

The team of the Vietnamese Defence Ministry consists of 33 officers divided into two groups. The group for the peacekeeping drill is led by Col. Nguyen Nhu Canh, Deputy Director of the Vietnam Department of Peacekeeping Operations, and the other for the humanitarian mine action drill, by Col. Pham Huu Tuan, Deputy Chief of the engineering arm’s staff.

Col. Canh said this is the first time Vietnam has taken part in this exercise, and the participation has affirmed the country’s sense of responsibility towards common activities of ASEAN and the ADMM Plus.

Following Indonesia and Australia’s co-chairmanship of the ADMM Plus experts’ working group on peacekeeping operations, Vietnam and Japan will co-chair the group for 2020-2023.