Japan, Vietnam eye stronger co-operation in UN peacekeeping

Vice Minister Kiyoshi was in Hanoi to co-chair the 10th Vietnam-Japan Defence Policy Dialogue at a deputy ministerial level, which took place later on the same day.

The official hailed ties between the two countries in peacekeeping operations, as well as expressing his hope for further collaboration in the areas where both have strengths and demand.

For his part, Colonel Pham Manh Thang, head of the department, thanked Japan for its support of the country in UN peacekeeping, suggesting that the two sides promote linkages in this regard.

Both sides consented to ramp up co-operation through the exchange of delegations and expertise, training and technical support, as well as co-ordination in organising relevant conferences, workshops, and forums.

Japan will therefore continue to invite Vietnamese soldiers to short-term peacekeeping training courses and exercises taking place in the country, as well as assisting the Vietnamese side in raise capacity for its peacekeeping lecturers.

Furthermore, professional, cultural, and sporting exchanges will be held for Vietnamese and Japanese forces deployed at the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS).

Japan is an important international partner of Vietnam in UN peacekeeping, with a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed by the two countries' defence ministries in September, 2015.

Multilaterally, the two sides have co-ordinated, co-chaired, and successfully organized meetings and activities of the Experts' Working Group on Peacekeeping Operations within the framework of the ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting Plus (ADMM).

They have also worked together within the UN Triangular Partnership Programme (TPP), with Japan co-ordinating and supporting the country to conduct three training courses for peacekeeping engineers.