Minister of National Defense General Phan Van Giang and US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin (Photo: Pham Huan/VOV-Washington) |
The two men said that, based on the consensus between the two Ministers during the official visit to Vietnam by Austin in July 2021, bilateral defense cooperation has continued and achieved good results in delegation exchanges, dialogues, consultations, overcoming the consequences of war, searching for US soldiers missing in action, training, military medicine, UN peacekeeping, humanitarian assistance, and disaster relief.
Vietnam highly values the support and commitment of the US Government and people in addressing post-war consequences through increased funding for dioxin remediation at Bien Hoa airport and support for Vietnamese people affected by Agent Orange/Dioxin.
The two ministers agreed on prioritizing cooperation in addressing post-war consequences with a focus on accelerating the dioxin contamination cleanup at Bien Hoa airport, clearing unexploded ordnance, and providing information, documents, equipment, and technology for DNA testing to support the search for and identification of Vietnamese soldiers who went missing in the war.
At the talks between the two Ministers (Photo: Pham Huan/VOV-Washington) |
The two sides agreed to expand and deepen cooperation in UN peacekeeping, training, military medicine, search and rescue, humanitarian assistance, disaster relief, and mutual consultation and support in regional and international multilateral forums, especially within the framework of the ASEAN Defense Ministers' Meeting Plus (ADMM+) on the basis of respecting ASEAN's centrality and principles of consensus.
At the end of the talks, the two ministers signed the updated Vietnam-US Joint Vision Statement on defense cooperation, marking a new milestone in the bilateral defense ties. Giang and Austin exchanged information related to Vietnamese and US soldiers who went missing during the war.