VOV.VN -The Ministry of Defence held a conference on July 18 in Hanoi to discuss Vietnam’s participation in UN peacekeeping missions in the presence of Deputy Defence Minister Sen. Lieut. Gen. Nguyen Chi Vinh.

 Deputy Defence Minister Sen. Lieut. Gen. Nguyen Chi Vinh 
delivers a speech at the conference.

The Vietnam Department of Peacekeeping Operations has collaborated with the Military Medical Academy to prepare staff for Vietnam’s second level-2 field hospital.

They have finalized basic training courses on the military, foreign languages, logistics, and medicine with assistance from experts from the US, the UK, and Australia.

Vinh who is also head of the inter-sectoral team on Vietnam’s peacekeeping missions said, “The first level-2 hospital has completed its missions and the 2nd level-2 hospital will make use of the past results and experience in the dispatch of its duty. We will maintain the number of female staff with better profession. We are planning to build a plastic-less hospital which is an important criterion set by the UN.”

He stated that Kamal Malhotra, UN Resident Coordinator, has asked the Vietnamese Ministry of Defence to dispatch more forces to UN peacekeeping missions such as police and civil units.

 “We successfully fulfilled the 1st phase and gained their trust. The UN asked us to expand our involvement in UN peacekeeping missions, for example sending sappers and ground troops to protect bases, as well as police officers to work as consultants. The UN has invited some Vietnamese officers to be commanders at UN missions and headquarters,” the Defence Minister added.

The Vietnam Department of Peacekeeping Operations has worked with UNDP in Vietnam, Australia, Japan, France, and other countries to prepare an international conference on “Women and UN peacekeeping missions” later this year.

After five years, Vietnam deployed 100 officers, including 12 women, to the UN’s two peacekeeping missions in South Sudan and Central African Republic.