PANO - General Phung Quang Thanh, Vietnam National Defence Minister, welcomed Vice-Admiral Ann Elisabeth Rondeau, President of US National Defence University, who is on a visit to Vietnam.
Also attending the reception, held on April 7th at the National Defence Ministry’s Headquarters, were Lieutenant-General Nguyen Chi Vinh, Deputy-Minister of National Defence, and Lieutenant-General Vo Tien Trung, Director of Vietnam National Defence University.
Vice-Admiral Rondeau conveyed best the regards of U.S. Secretary of Defence Gates and Admiral Mullen, Chairman of the Joint-Chief-of-Staff, to General Phung Quang Thanh.
She also informed General Thanh about positive results on information exchanges and talks with Vietnam National Defence University and the Military Strategy Institute under Vietnam National Defence Ministry.
Meanwhile, General Thanh hailed the fruitful cooperation between the Vietnam National Defence University and the Military Strategy Institute with the US National Defence University, and agreed on the establishment of an enhanced communication channel.
The General also hoped to further organise more discussions between the two sides on issues of joint concern in the region and around the world as well as cooperation in national defence.
Furthermore, the Defence Minister thanked the US National Defence University and other universities for its training courses for Vietnamese. “Vietnam is ready to send its experts on defence strategy and other lecturers to the USA for more exchanges and learning experiences”, he said.
According to General Thanh, it was necessary to strengthen cooperation in other fields that were agreed upon at the visit of Defence Secretary Gates to Vietnam last year.
He highly appreciated the co-ordination between Vietnam and the USA in searching for Vietnamese missing soldiers and expressed gratitude to US veterans for their presentation of Vietnamese soldiers’ belongings and information that helps search for missing soldiers.
Translated by Mai Huong