Vietnam to send more officers to UN peace-keeping missions
(VOVWORLD) - Vietnam will dispatch more officers, particularly females, to participate in UN peacekeeping operations, said Deputy Defense Minister Nguyen Chi Vinh at a meeting of EU defense chiefs in Belgium this week.
 Chairman of the European Union Military Committee Mikhail Kostarakos (right) and Deputy Defense Minister Nguyen Chi Vinh (Photo: VNA) |
Mr. Vinh said that in 4 years, Vietnam has sent 20 officers, including 1 female, to work at the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA) and the UN Mission in South Sudan. Vietnam is scheduled to run the level-2 field hospital in Bentiu, South Sudan, replacing the UK this quarter and to dispatch a peacekeeping military engineering unit to a suitable mission in 2019 or 2020.
Mr. Vinh urged an official defense partnership between Vietnam and the EU by pushing the signing of a Vietnam-EU joint vision statement on national defense and a memorandum of understanding on bilateral defense ties. He called for more delegation exchanges and mutual support at defense forums and mechanisms.
He said the two sides should increase the sharing of peacekeeping knowledge and experience through training, workshops, and experts exchange to help Vietnam improve its capacity and step up affiliation between the Vietnam Peacekeeping Department and UN peacekeeping training centers.