Hanoi (VNA) – Prime Minister Nguyen XuanPhuc and his Australian counterpart Scott Morrison on August 23 visited theVietnam People’s Army (VPA)’s Level-2 Field Hospital No. 2 at the Hanoi-basedMilitary Medical University.

PM Morrison, who is on an official visit to Vietnam, highlighted the tightenednational defence cooperation between Vietnam and Australia over the past 21years.

He recalled Australia’s flying Vietnamese officers and equipment to the UnitedNations peacekeeping mission in South Sudan on October 1, 2018.

Australia will continue to send aircraft to fly officers of Vietnam’s Level-2 FieldHospital No. 1 in South Sudan back home and carry those of the Level-2 Field HospitalNo. 2 from Vietnam to the mission in November, he said.

Hospital No. 1, which has provided treatment for more than 1,100 patients inthe African country, has been applauded by the international community for its professionalismand capacity, the Australian leader stressed.

He said the successful and result-orientedcooperation in peacekeeping operations has been demonstrated in theVietnam-Australia Declaration on Joint Visions for Enhancing DefenceCooperation inked by the two defence ministers in 2018.

Besides, since 2011, Australia has helped Vietnam with English languageteaching and shared its peacekeeping experience with the Vietnamese side, theguest said.

Australia wishes to step up defence cooperation with Vietnam, especially to assistthe VPA in deploying forces to UN peacekeeping missions in the future, he said,expressing his hope that the two sides will push ahead with the defencecooperation programme across spheres, including maritime security, counter-terrorism,education and training.

The Australian PM said he is impressed by Vietnam’s efforts, commitments andthorough and effective preparations for joining UN peacekeeping operations.

For his part, PM Phuc highly valued Australia’s cooperation with and support toVietnam in UN peacekeeping activities over the past time.

Joining UN peacekeeping operations is one of the major foreign policies andguidelines of the Party, State and Government of Vietnam – a peace-loving nation,he affirmed.

Through the engagement, Vietnam wants to prove itself as a prestigious andresponsible nation to the international community, and to voice its wish towork together with other countries in ensuring global peace and security, hesaid.  

PM Morrison told the press following the trip to the hospital that he highlyvalues relations between Vietnam and Australia, stressing that the bilateraldefence cooperation will be tightened in the future.-VNA