Celebrating the 80th Anniversary of the Founding of the Vietnam People's Army in Brunei Darussalam

NDO - On the evening of December 17, the Vietnamese Embassy and the Vietnamese Defense Attaché Office in Brunei Darussalam jointly organized a solemn ceremony to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the founding of the Vietnam People's Army (December 22, 1944 - December 22, 2024) and the 35th anniversary of National Defense Day (December 22, 1989 - December 22, 2024).

Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Ngoc Huan, Vietnamese Defense Attaché in Brunei, spoke at the ceremony.

The ceremony took place under the chairmanship of Vietnamese Ambassador to Brunei Tran Anh Vu and Vietnamese Defense Attaché to Brunei, Senior Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Ngoc Huan, with the presence of Acting Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Defense of Brunei Poh Kui Choon, Commander of the Royal Army, Acting Commander of the Royal Army Joint Forces, Acting Commander of the Royal Navy, Deputy Commander of the Royal Air Force, Director of the Royal Army Institute for Strategic Studies, a number of former Commanders of the Navy, Air Force, Army and many senior officers of the Royal Brunei Army, a large number of guests representing diplomatic missions, military and defense attachés of countries in Brunei, as well as officials of Vietnamese diplomatic missions, and the Vietnamese community living and working in Brunei.

Vietnamese Defense Attaché in Brunei, Senior Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Ngoc Huan, welcomed and introduced to guests at the ceremony the history of the founding of the Vietnam People's Army, with its feats and achievements along with milestones in the history of the revolutionary struggle of the country and people.

After 80 years of building, fighting and growing, the Vietnam People's Army has continuously developed and grown, worthy of being a special political force, an absolutely loyal and trustworthy fighting force of the Party, State and people of Vietnam. The Party and State's choice of December 22, 1989 as the National Defense Day not only demonstrates the inheritance of the Vietnamese people's tradition of fighting the enemy to defend the country, but also continues to affirm the Communist Party of Vietnam 's viewpoint that the entire people participate in building the country and defending the Fatherland, honoring the beautiful image of "Uncle Ho's soldiers".

Ambassador Tran Anh Vu presented a gift to Acting Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Defense of Brunei Poh Kui Choon.

Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Ngoc Huan emphasized that Vietnam persistently implements the "4 no's" defense policy: No participation in military alliances, no association with one country to fight against another, no allowing foreign countries to set up military bases or use Vietnamese territory to fight against other countries, no use of force or threat of use of force in international relations.

Over the years, the Vietnam People's Army has always proactively promoted international integration and defense diplomacy. Defense diplomacy has become one of the pillars of the Party's foreign affairs and State diplomacy, an important channel to create and consolidate strategic trust, build and develop Vietnam's friendly relations with other countries. Vietnam has participated in many regional and international multilateral defense and military mechanisms and forums; has defense cooperation relations with more than 100 countries, of which, it has established Defense Attaché/Military Attaché Offices in 35 countries, including the Vietnam Defense Attaché Office in Brunei.

Defense cooperation is a highlight in the Comprehensive Partnership between Vietnam and Brunei, based on the implementation of the Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation in a number of Defense Areas signed in 2005. In addition to regular exchanges of high-level delegations and bilateral and multilateral defense information consultations, education and training cooperation can be considered a focus in the defense relationship between the two countries.

Every year, the two sides give each other places to study at training courses organized by the Ministries of Defense and the Armies of the two countries. In recent years, Vietnamese military officers have attended English courses, Command and Staff courses, Management and Public Policy courses, etc. in Brunei, helping to improve their qualifications and enhance exchanges, mutual understanding, and create relationships and connections between the two forces, especially young officers.

The Ambassador and Defense Attaché to Brunei pose for a photo with some of the guests.

The Action Program for the Implementation of the Vietnam-Brunei Comprehensive Partnership for the 2023-2027 period between the two countries identifies cooperation priorities in the fields of economy, defense and security, educational cooperation and people-to-people exchange. Vietnam-Brunei bilateral defense cooperation continues to be promoted comprehensively, first of all maintaining and establishing new consultation and information exchange mechanisms between the two Ministries of Defense as well as the Army, Air Force and Navy, enhancing mutual trust, jointly dealing with common challenges and actively contributing to the building and development of the ASEAN Community.

Senior Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Ngoc Huan believes that the Vietnam-Brunei cooperative relationship in general and bilateral defense cooperation in particular will continue to develop and become increasingly close, for the benefit of the people of the two countries as well as peace, stability, security and development of the entire region.

Source: https://nhandan.vn/ky-niem-80-nam-thanh-lap-quan-doi-nhan-dan-viet-nam-tai-brunei-darussalam-post851078.html