From August 29 to 31, General Phan Van Giang - Politburo member, Deputy Secretary of the Central Military Commission, Minister of National Defense and a high-ranking delegation of the Vietnamese Ministry of National Defense paid an official visit to the Philippines at the invitation of Defense Minister Gilberto Teodoro.
According to a VNA reporter reporting from the Philippines, during the visit, Minister Phan Van Giang attended the official welcoming ceremony at the headquarters of the Philippine Ministry of National Defense, held talks with his counterpart Gilberto Teodoro, paid a courtesy call to President Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos Jr., visited and worked with the Navy Command, visited the Vietnamese Embassy in the Philippines, offered flowers at the Ho Chi Minh Monument and laid flowers at the Rizal Monument in Rizal Park in Manila.
At the meeting with Minister Gilberto Teodoro, Minister Phan Van Giang expressed his pleasure to officially visit the Philippines; thanked the Philippine Ministry of National Defense for the warm and thoughtful reception for the delegation. Minister Phan Van Giang affirmed that Vietnam always adheres to the foreign policy of independence, self-reliance, peace , friendship, cooperation, development, multilateralization, and diversification of foreign relations; attaches importance to developing friendly relations with countries, including the Philippines, a neighbor at sea, an active member of the common house of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
Defense Minister Gilberto Teodoro warmly welcomed Minister Phan Van Giang and his delegation on their official visit to the Philippines; affirmed that the Philippines attaches great importance to consolidating and further strengthening the strategic partnership with Vietnam, and is determined to work with Vietnam to develop the bilateral relationship in a deep, comprehensive, and sustainable manner, contributing positively to peace, stability, and prosperous development in the region and the world.
The two ministers emphasized that Vietnam and the Philippines are two neighboring countries sharing a maritime border and are both active and responsible members of the ASEAN Community. Since the two countries officially established diplomatic relations in 1976, bilateral relations have continuously developed well in many fields. Bilateral defense cooperation has maintained a positive momentum, achieved many substantive results, and made important contributions to the overall development of the Vietnam-Philippines Strategic Partnership.
Minister Phan Van Giang and Minister Gilberto Teodoro assessed that the two sides have great potential for cooperation in areas such as maritime security and safety; logistics; military medicine; defense industry; natural disaster response and search and rescue; United Nations peacekeeping... In the coming time, the two sides affirmed to continue their efforts to develop bilateral defense cooperation in an increasingly practical and effective manner, actively towards the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the Strategic Partnership (2015 - 2025) and the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations (1976 - 2026), focusing on areas including the exchange of delegations at all levels, especially high-level delegations; effectively maintaining existing cooperation mechanisms to share views on strategic issues, increasing trust and mutual understanding; promoting training cooperation, cooperation between military branches and services; coordinating and supporting each other at multilateral forums and mechanisms,...
During the talks, the two sides also discussed a number of international and regional issues of mutual concern. The two sides agreed on the importance of peace, security, stability, freedom of navigation and aviation in the East Sea; reaffirmed their stance on resolving disputes through peaceful means, in accordance with international law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), fully implementing the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC), towards an effective and substantive Code of Conduct in the East Sea (COC); and emphasized that the role of the Ministry of National Defense and the Army in dealing with and resolving maritime issues is very important.
Noting that Vietnam will celebrate the 80th anniversary of the Vietnam People's Army and the second Vietnam International Defense Exhibition later this year, Minister Phan Van Giang respectfully invited Minister Gilberto Teodoro, leaders of the Ministry of National Defense and the Philippine military to attend the above events. Minister Phan Van Giang emphasized that Vietnam welcomes Philippine defense enterprises to exhibit at the Exhibition.
At the end of the talks, Minister Phan Van Giang and Minister Gilberto Teodoro witnessed the signing of the Letter of Intent between the two Ministries of National Defense on enhancing cooperation in the field of humanitarian assistance and maritime disaster relief; the Letter of Intent between the two Ministries of National Defense on enhancing cooperation in the field of military medicine. Afterwards, Minister Phan Van Giang and Minister Gilberto Teodoro met with the press to inform about the results of the talks.
* During the visit, on August 30, General Phan Van Giang paid a courtesy call to Philippine President Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos Jr. At the meeting, General Phan Van Giang respectfully conveyed the greetings and best wishes of General Secretary and President To Lam, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and National Assembly Chairman Tran Thanh Man to President Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos Jr.; affirming that Vietnam always attaches importance to the strategic partnership with the Philippines.
President Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos Jr. highly appreciated the remarkable socio-economic development achievements and outstanding foreign affairs achievements that Vietnam has made in recent times; affirmed that Vietnam continues to be the Philippines' only strategic partner in ASEAN; believed that this visit will contribute to strengthening friendship, cooperation, mutual understanding and trust; in which, defense cooperation will increasingly become an important pillar in the relationship between the two countries.
General Phan Van Giang expressed his hope that the Philippine Government and President Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos Jr. would continue to pay attention to and support the two countries' defense ministries in signing a defense cooperation agreement to replace the agreement signed in 2010, and support the establishment of a hotline mechanism between the Vietnam Coast Guard and the Philippine Coast Guard to improve the effectiveness of coordination in handling non-traditional security issues at sea; and hoped that the two sides would continue to strengthen coordination and humanely handle cases of fishermen violating each other's waters, and promptly share information and stances on issues of mutual concern.
At the meeting, the two sides shared their views on international and regional issues of mutual concern. General Phan Van Giang affirmed that the Party and State of Vietnam always adhere to an independent, self-reliant, multilateral, and diversified foreign policy and a "four no's" defense policy (no participation in military alliances; no alliance with one country to fight another; no allowing foreign countries to set up military bases or use territory to fight against other countries; no use of force or threat of use of force in international relations).
President Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos Jr. and General Phan Van Giang emphasized the importance of maintaining peace, security, stability, freedom of navigation and aviation in the East Sea; reaffirmed the stance of resolving disputes through peaceful measures, in accordance with international law, including the 1982 UNCLOS, fully implementing the DOC, and moving towards an effective and efficient COC.
Vietnam and the Philippines will celebrate the 10th anniversary of their strategic partnership in 2025. Therefore, President Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos Jr. and General Phan Van Giang expressed their belief that the bilateral relationship will continue to have new developments in various fields, including defense cooperation, commensurate with the potential and strengths of both sides.
* On the same day, General Phan Van Giang and his delegation visited the headquarters of the Philippine Navy Command. General Phan Van Giang expressed his impression of the development history and achievements of the Philippine Navy, and emphasized that the two neighboring countries at sea, Vietnam and the Philippines, have common interests in ensuring maritime security and safety in the sea areas between the two countries in particular and the sea areas in the region in general.
The current world and regional situation is evolving rapidly, complexly, and unpredictably; non-traditional security challenges are increasing at an alarming rate, including drug crimes, smuggling, transnational crimes, etc., requiring further cooperation between the maritime law enforcement forces of the two countries, in which the navy plays a very important role.
General Phan Van Giang acknowledged and praised the results of cooperation between the two navies in recent times, especially the active coordination in supporting fishermen of both countries in distress at sea. Affirming that the potential for cooperation in maritime security and safety between the two sides is huge, urgent and in line with the common interests of the two countries, General Phan Van Giang suggested that the two sides actively coordinate to advise senior leaders of each country on measures to enhance trust at sea, maintain security and order in the sea areas between the two countries, contributing to maintaining a peaceful, friendly, cooperative and developing sea area.
General Phan Van Giang affirmed that the Vietnamese Ministry of National Defense always supports and creates favorable conditions for the two countries' navies in particular and the two sides' law enforcement forces in general to increase exchanges and cooperation, thereby enhancing understanding, sharing information and situations, providing timely support to fishermen in distress at sea, and actively contributing to maritime security and safety in the region. The Vietnamese Ministry of National Defense welcomes the Philippine Navy to send a delegation to attend the second Vietnam International Defense Exhibition later this year.
Vice Admiral Toribio Dulinayan Adaci Jr., Commander of the Philippine Navy, warmly welcomed and expressed his honor to welcome General Phan Van Giang and his delegation to the headquarters of the Philippine Navy. Vice Admiral Toribio Dulinayan Adaci Jr. expressed his gratitude to the two countries' Ministries of National Defense for always creating favorable conditions for the Philippine Navy to promote cooperation with the Vietnam People's Navy.
Emphasizing that over the past time, the two countries' naval forces have maintained effective cooperation momentum, Vice Admiral Toribio Dulinayan Adaci Jr. affirmed that the Philippine Navy values and wishes to strengthen its cooperative relationship with the Vietnam People's Navy.
* Previously, on August 29, Minister Phan Van Giang and the high-ranking delegation of the Vietnamese Ministry of National Defense laid flowers at the Ho Chi Minh Monument, laid flowers at the Rizal Monument in Rizal Park in Manila, visited and talked with the Embassy and representative agencies of Vietnam in the area.
Vietnamese Ambassador to the Philippines Lai Thai Binh informed Minister Phan Van Giang and the delegation about the results of the Embassy's performance in recent times as well as the living conditions of the Vietnamese community in the host country.
General Phan Van Giang highly appreciated the contributions of the Embassy, including the role of Ambassador Lai Thai Binh, to promoting the Vietnam-Philippines strategic partnership in general and bilateral defense cooperation in particular; expressed his belief that the Embassy's staff will continue to unite and make every effort to fulfill the tasks assigned by the Party and State, contributing more to promoting the Vietnam-Philippines relationship.
Informing Ambassador Lai Thai Binh and the Embassy's staff about the official visit to the Philippines, General Phan Van Giang emphasized that the visit took place in the context of the Vietnam - Philippines relationship constantly developing well in many fields, in which defense cooperation is increasingly developing substantially and effectively, expanding in scope to suit the concerns of the two countries in the new situation.
The visit aims to continue to strengthen cooperation and mutual understanding, while orienting the promotion of effective and substantive cooperation between the two Ministries of National Defense, thereby contributing to consolidating political trust between Vietnam and the Philippines. On this occasion, General Phan Van Giang expressed his wish to continue receiving support and assistance from the Embassy to develop Vietnam-Philippines defense cooperation more effectively and substantively.
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