75th anniversary of Vietnam People’s Army marked in Ukraine

Delegates at the event pose for a group photo. (Photo: VNA)

Moscow (VNA) – The Vietnamese Embassy and Defence Attaché Office have recently held a ceremony to mark the 75th founding anniversary of the Vietnam People’s Army (VPA) and the 30th All-People’s Defence Festival (December 22).

The White Paper on Vietnam National Defence was revealed and a photo exhibition on Vietnam’s army, seas, islands, land and people was held on this occasion.

The event saw the attendance of 250 guests, including representatives of the Ministry of Defence, the General Staff of the Armed Forces and Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, diplomatic corps and defence attaché offices of foreign countries in Ukraine, the Ukraine-Vietnam Friendship Association and the Ukraine War Veterans’ Association, among others. 

In his remarks, Vietnamese Ambassador to Ukraine and Moldova Nguyen Anh Tuan highlighted Vietnam’s military and defence strength that is based on the great national unity bloc.

Colonel Nguyen Dinh Phuc, Vietnamese Defence Attaché in Ukraine, reviewed the 75-year development of the VPA, as well as achievements in defence diplomacy Vietnam has recorded.

Vietnam has maintained defence ties with more than 80 countries and international organisations and established 33 defence attaché offices in 32 countries and the UN. Meanwhile, 51 countries have opened their defence attaché offices in Vietnam, he said.

Since 2006, Vietnam has attended the Defence Ministers’ Meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), contributing to consolidating the grouping’s central role in the regional architecture.

Since 2014, the country has also dispatched 40 batches of officers and soldiers to the two UN peacekeeping missions in South Sudan and the Central African Republic, according to the colonel.

He said the Vietnamese Ministry of National Defence is working hard to prepare for Vietnam’s ASEAN Chairmanship Year 2020 and the membership of the UN Security Council for 2020-2021.

Phuc emphasised the valuable long-standing relations between Vietnam and Ukraine as well as their military-defence ties, saying Ukraine is one of Vietnam’s important partners in the sphere.

The two countries set up defence attaché offices in the respective countries in 1994 and 2003 in an effort to promote relations between the two defence ministries, he said./.