Vietnam and Singapore signed a cooperation plan for 2023-2025 which is built on the renewed Defence Cooperation Agreement signed in February this year. (Photo: qdnd.vn) Singapore (VNA) – Vietnam and Singapore reaffirmedtheir warm and friendly defence relations as well as their commitment to enhance bilateraldefence cooperation at the 13th Singapore-Vietnam Defence PolicyDialogue (DPD) held in Singapore on November 4.
The event was co-chaired by Vietnamese Deputy Minister of NationalDefence Senior Lieutenant General Hoang Xuan Chien and Permanent Secretary ChanHeng Kee at Singapore’s Ministry of Defence.
At the dialogue, the two sides shared the view that the bilateral defencecooperation in the past year has achieved important results, with the samefrequency and level as before the COVID-19 pandemic broke out. Inparticular, during the State visit of President Nguyen Xuan Phuc to Singapore lastFebruary, the defence ministers of the two countries signed an agreement onbilateral defence cooperation which created the framework for strengtheningcollaboration in areas that each side has strengths.
The two sides also agreed to promote cooperation in humanresources, collaboration and exchanges between the navies, air forces and coastguards of the two countries. They pledged to study the expansion of cooperation to fields thatsuit their needs such as cybersecurity, maritime security, digitaltransformation, and response to emerging diseases as well as actively supporteach other within the military-defence framework of the Association ofSoutheast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
At the event. (Photo: qdnd.vn) Regarding the world and regional situation, the two sides committed to continue working closely with each other to maintain the unity and central role ofASEAN in the regional security architecture, and to promote dialogue andcooperation among ASEAN countries as well as between the bloc and external partnersfor peace and stability of the region and the world.
The two sides also exchanged views on a number of issues of commonconcern, such as the situation in the East Sea and non-traditional securitychallenges such as cybersecurity, maritime security, and the Greater MekongSub-region.
Chan emphasised that given the complicated developments in theworld and regional situation, the two sides need to further strengthen their cooperation for mutual interests. He also thanked Vietnam for its activesupport of multilateral initiatives and events held by Singapore.
For his part, Chien repeated an invitation to Chan, leaders ofSingapore's Ministry of Defence, army and enterprises to attend the firstInternational Defence Exhibition in Vietnam in early December, saying thatSingapore's presence will contribute to the overall success of the event.
Within the framework of the dialogue, the two sides signed a cooperationplan for 2023-2025 which is built on the renewed Defence CooperationAgreement signed in February this year.
✱ During his stay in Singapore, Chien also called on SeniorMinister of State for Defence Heng Chee How, visited the Information Fusion Centre atChangi Naval Base and had a working session with the International Institute forStrategic Studies (UK) in Asia (IISS-Asia)./.
