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Jun 05, 2018 / 14:45

Canada heads to long-term defense cooperation with Vietnam

Canadian Defense Minister Harjit Singh Sahan made the statement during a courtesy call to Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Pham Binh Minh on June 4, part of his official visit to Vietnam.

At the meeting, Minister Pham Binh Minh affirmed that Vietnam highly values and aims to enhance the relationship, cooperation with Canada in comprehensive, effective, practical, stable and long-term way, especially when the two nation are increasingly sharing many mutual bilateral, regional and international benefits.
Canadian Defense Minister Harjit Singh Sahan and Vietnam Deputy Prime Minister, Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh. Photo: VNA
Canadian Defense Minister Harjit Singh Sahan and Vietnam Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Pham Binh Minh. Photo: VNA

Hailing the first Vietnam’s visit of Canadian Defense Minister, Minh expressed the belief that it would contribute to the bilateral defense ties. The Vietnamese top diplomat suggested Canada increase its support for Vietnam in personnel training, and agreed to expand cooperation in such fields as the settlement of war aftermath, defense industry, and improvement in maritime security capability.
Both sides expressed their satisfaction with the positive and comprehensive developments in bilateral ties as evidenced by Prime Minister J.Trudeau’s official visit to Vietnam and his participation at the APEC Summit last November and the two countries’ establishment of a comprehensive partnership on this occasion.
As planned, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc would visit Canada and attend the expanded Group of Seven (G7) Summit at the invitation of his Canadian counterpart Trudeau.
The Vietnamese diplomat affirmed Vietnam's support for and confidence in its contributions to the overall success of the summit. He hopes that the upcoming Canada visit by PM Phuc and the talks between the two PMs will gain achievements, practically reinforcing the comprehensive partnership between the two countries.
Vietnam welcomes Canada foreign policy of enhancing the connection with Asia-Pacific, attaching the importance to the ties with Vietnam and ASEAN, Minh said.
For his part, Defense Minister Harjit Singh Sahan said he was impressed by the strong development of Vietnam after the 30-year-long era of Doi moi, while highly appraising the country's foreign policy of independence, self-reliance, diversification, multilateralisation of relations, and its rising international standing.
The Canadian Minister affirmed Vietnam as a key partner of Canada in the region and the country’s readiness to set long term friendship and cooperation with Vietnam, especially in defense area.
Both sides shared their views on the
maintenance of peace and stability in the region. Amid current complex situation, the two officials agreed on the settlement of disputes in the East Sea through peaceful means in line with international law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC), and working towards a Code of Conduct in the East Sea (COC).