Wellington (VNA) – Vietnamese Minister ofNational Defence General Ngo Xuan Lich held talks with his New Zealandcounterpart Ron Mark in Wellington on November 5 following an official welcomeceremony with traditional Maori rituals for the former.

Welcoming Lich and his high-ranking military delegationto New Zealand, Mark said “New Zealand is committed to enhancing defencecooperation with Vietnam in peacekeeping, maritime security, professionalmilitary education and training and through strategic dialogue.”

“Minister Lich’s visit is an opportunity to furtherdeepen regional security cooperation and to support the elevation of bilateralrelations between our two countries,” he said.

Gen. Lich, for his part, affirmed that Vietnam attachesgreat importance to the Comprehensive Partnership with New Zealand. He expectedthat the visit would be a success, marking a new milestone in the bilateraldefence partnership and helping to deepen the Vietnam-New Zealand bilateralties.

The two ministers exchanged views on issues of mutualconcern and updated each other on the socio-economic development of eachcountry. They also reviewed the bilateral defence ties and outlined steps tofoster the future cooperation.

They agreed that the defence cooperation between the twonations has proven effective in line with signed agreements, particularly aMemorandum of Understanding on defence cooperation inked in 2013. However,there is still huge room for the two sides to further step up their defenceties, they said.

On that basis, the ministers agreed to continue regularexchange of visits at all levels, effectively promote current dialoguemechanisms and enhance collaboration in foreign language training.

The two countries will also reinforce the exchange of experiencesin naval and peacekeeping operations as well as coordination within theframework of the ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting Plus (ADMM-Plus) and othermultilateral forums. In addition, they will take into account expanding theirdefence cooperation to other potential realms, such as natural disaster reliefthat both sides are capable and experienced.

Gen. Lich told his host that Vietnam will assume theannual rotating ASEAN Chairmanship in 2020 and the Vietnamese Ministry ofNational Defence will host the ADMM-Plus and celebrations for the mechanism’sanniversary the same year. Vietnam looks forward to gaining support from NewZealand for the success of these events, he said.

“I am confident that the bilateral defence relations willsee new progress in line with benefits of both our countries and for regionaland global peace, security and development,” he said.

Regarding issues in the East Sea, the two ministersagreed that territorial disputes must be settled via peaceful measures on thebasis of international law, especially the 1982 United Nations on the Law ofthe Sea (UNCLOS).

Lich has been on an official to New Zealand from November 5-9at the invitation of Minister of Defence Ron Mark.–VNA