Such were the sentiments at a teleconference held by the Ministry of Defence on January 6 to review military and defence activities during the 2020 ASEAN Chairmanship hosted by Vietnam, as well as assessing international integration and external relation affairs within the army last year.
Deputy Minister of National Defence Senior Lieutenant General Nguyen Chi Vinh chaired the conference, during which delegates assessed that the ministry successfully hosted ASEAN defence activities in 2020, thereby promoting the proposed goals, priorities and initiatives, while ensuring the national interest and demonstrating an adaptive initiative in their leading role as the Chair of ASEAN in 2020.
Some outstanding results must be mentioned such as the timely proposing of the joint statement of the ASEAN Defence Ministers on defence cooperation amid the COVID-19 epidemic at the meeting of the ASEAN Defence Ministers' Meeting Retreat (ADMM Retreat), laying a basis for successfully organising online drills by the ASEAN military medical forces, in addition to issuing the ADMM Joint Statement for the first time in many years, as well as the ADMM Plus meeting issuing a Joint Statement, demonstrating Vietnam's position and prestige in the defence cooperation mechanism between ASEAN and other partner countries.
Such activities were organised in accordance with the guidelines and foreign policies of the Party and State, meeting the targets and requirements set out during the 2020 ASEAN Chairmanship, directly contributing to a firm defence of the country, maintaining a peaceful and stable environment for the cause of national construction and development and contributing to strengthening the friendship, promoting relations and cooperation, and consolidating strategic trust between Vietnam and other countries.
Praising the efforts of all-military agencies and units in organising the activities amid the complex developments of COVID-19, Senior Lieutenant General Vinh stressed that the army should do an even better job in 2021, following the directions of the Party General Secretary and President Nguyen Phu Trong at a recent meeting of the Central Military Commission.
Regarding the tasks of international integration and external relations for the army this year, delegates at the conference suggested the focus should be continuing the strengthening of proactive, flexible and effective defence relations and cooperation, while solidifying the results of the 2020 ASEAN Chairmanship and expanding participation in the United Nations peace keeping activities, focussing on the imminent launch of Vietnam’s Level-2 Field Hospital No. 3 to replace the current No. 2 facility and the preparations to send military engineers to the mission as requested by the United Nations.
