Defense cooperation is pillar of Viet Nam-Thailand ties

Noonpackdee made the above statement during his talks with Chief of the General Staff of the Viet Nam People's Army and Deputy Minister of National Defense Gen. Nguyen Tan Cuong in Ha Noi on July 4.

The Thai official expressed his hope that defense cooperation between the two countries will be further strengthened in the coming time, towards a more substantive, practical, and effective manner.

He hailed Viet Nam's "Four No's" defense policy, affirming that Thailand supports the resolution of all disputes and differences via peaceful means, based on international law.

Nguyen, for his part, reiterated that Viet Nam attaches great importance to its cooperative relations with ASEAN countries, including Thailand, for the sake of peace, stability, and development in the region and the world.

He expressed his delight on the growing defense cooperation between Viet Nam and Thailand.

Defense cooperation has been promoted in areas such as exchange of delegations at all levels, effective maintenance of cooperation mechanisms, including the defense policy dialogue, human resource training, exchanges between officers at various levels, cooperation among military services and branches and mutual consultation and support at multilateral forums and cooperation frameworks, noted the host.

He called on both sides to continue to enhance all-level delegation exchanges, promote the effectiveness of existing cooperation mechanisms, foster practical and effective cooperation between military services and branches, especially among maritime law enforcement forces, strengthen ties in training and other potential areas and maintain close consultations and mutual support at multilateral mechanisms, forums, and international events hosted by each side.

Nguyen underlined ASEAN's important role in shaping and maintaining the regional security architecture, as well as in enhancing substantive cooperation among member states and between ASEAN and its partners.

Viet Nam consistently pursues a foreign policy of independence, self-reliance, peace, friendship, cooperation, and development, diversification and multilateralization of external relations and firmly upholds its "Four No's" defense policy, asserted the Vietnamese official.

Regarding the East Sea issue, Nguyen affirmed Viet Nam's consistent stance of resolving all disputes and differences by peaceful means on the basis of international law, especially the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), relevant international and regional commitments such as the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC) and supporting the early conclusion of an effective and substantive Code of Conduct (COC) in the East Sea./.