General Phan Van Giang welcomes the first distinguished guests to visit the Ministry of National Defense in 2023

On the morning of February 19, at the headquarters of the Ministry of National Defense, General Phan Van Giang - Minister of National Defense chaired the official welcoming ceremony and held talks with General Tea Banh - Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of National Defense and the high-ranking delegation of the Cambodian Ministry of National Defense who are on an official visit to Vietnam.

On behalf of the Vietnamese Ministry of National Defense, the General was delighted to welcome the Deputy Prime Minister, Minister and the delegation of senior officials of the Cambodian Ministry of National Defense. He said that the Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of National Defense of Cambodia and the delegation members are the first distinguished guests to visit the Vietnamese Ministry of National Defense in the new year 2023.

General Phan Van Giang welcomed General Tea Banh.

General Phan Van Giang believes that the visit will create new momentum, contributing to further tightening the good friendship between the two countries, the two Ministries of Defense, and the two Armies. The Minister also believes that Cambodia will continue to successfully host the 32nd Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games) and the Southeast Asian Para Games (Para Games) in 2023.

General Tea Banh thanked the Vietnamese Ministry of National Defense and Minister Phan Van Giang for their warm welcome to the delegation. The Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Defense congratulated the great and historic successes that the Party, Government and people of Vietnam have achieved in recent times, especially in preventing and fighting the Covid-19 pandemic and developing the economy.

The two Ministers reviewed the Honor Guard of the Vietnam People's Army.

The Cambodian Minister of Defense acknowledged and appreciated the "blossoming and fruitful" development of the close and cooperative relationship in all fields between the two countries' armies. Despite the complicated developments of the Covid-19 pandemic, the relationship between the two countries continues to be strengthened through the exchange of delegations at all levels in various forms, maintaining effective cooperation mechanisms.

General Tea Banh affirmed that the two countries' armies need to be determined to strengthen and develop the friendly relationship through promoting increasingly deep cooperation, effectively implementing activities in the annual cooperation plan, such as exchanges and meetings at all levels and in various forms between the two sides at forums.

Regarding bilateral defense relations, the two sides agreed that 2022 is a year of special significance for the bilateral relationship, identified by the two countries' senior leaders as the "Cambodia - Vietnam Friendship Year".

Nearly 30 activities of high symbolic significance have been implemented by the two Ministries of National Defense, such as: The first Vietnam - Cambodia Border Defense Friendship Exchange (May 2022), the 45th Anniversary of Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen's "The Road to Overthrowing the Pol Pot Genocide Regime" (June 2022), the Annual Meeting between the Defense Ministers of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia and the Joint Search and Rescue Exercise of the Armed Forces of Vietnam - Cambodia - Laos (September 2022).

Over the past time, agencies and units of the two sides have maintained good information and situation exchange, maintained stability, security and order at the land and sea borders, and effectively implemented the contents of the 2022 Cooperation Plan.

Regarding the direction of cooperation in the coming time, the two sides agreed on the contents of the 2023 Defense Cooperation Plan in the spirit of trust, practicality, and effectiveness, emphasizing a number of key points. In particular, the two sides will strengthen cooperation in exchanging information and situations, coordinating patrols and controlling to maintain security and order on land and at sea.

The two sides will closely coordinate and develop a long-term propaganda plan on solidarity and mutual support between the Governments, peoples and armies of the two countries, especially on major anniversaries such as the 70th anniversary of the founding of the Royal Cambodian Army in 2023 and the 80th anniversary of the founding of the Vietnam People's Army in 2024...

The two countries' armies continue to focus on cooperation in the field of human resource training, coordination in searching, collecting and repatriating the remains of Vietnamese volunteer soldiers and experts who died in Cambodia during the war.

The two Ministers signed the Cooperation Plan for 2023 and witnessed the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding between the Ministry of National Defense of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and the Ministry of National Defense of Cambodia on cooperation in the field of military and defense law.

During the visit, the Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense visited President Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum and paid a courtesy call to Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh.

Tran Thuong-Pham Hai