Delegates at the event. Photo: qdnd.vn

Themed “Indo-Pacific Actions Supporting United Nations Action-for-Peace Initiative (A4P) Improving Performance in Peace Operations”, the event aims at creating a forum connecting the member countries, helping them consolidate resources to back the A4P and the A4P, according to The World & Vietnam Report.

It is also a chance to affirm the role and responsibility of Vietnam – the current AAPTC Chair, increase its international position in peacekeeping cooperation in the Asia-Pacific region, and contribute to improving the efficiency of participation in the UN peacekeeping missions of member countries in the region.

Through the event, Vietnam expects to improve its capacity of organising international peacekeeping events and realising the Vietnam Department of Peacekeeping Operations’s goal of building a training facility of regional and international standards.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, Lieutenant General Phung Si Tan, Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Vietnam People's Army and deputy head of the Defence Ministry’s Steering Committee on Participation in UN Peacekeeping Operations, said that the Vietnamese ministry appreciates the importance and significance of the meeting and workshop, as they offer a valuable opportunity for Vietnam and other member countries to share experience, initiatives and measures to overcome difficulties, especially challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic; strengthen cooperation to improve the quality of training and personnel preparations for joining the UN’s peacekeeping missions.

Lieutenant General Phung Si Tan, Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Vietnam People's Army and deputy head of the Defence Ministry’s Steering Committee on Participation in UN Peacekeeping Operations, speaks at the event. Photo: qdnd.vn

Major General Hoang Kim Phung, head of the Vietnam Department of Peacekeeping Operations and AAPTC Chairperson, said Vietnam officially participated in the UN peacekeeping operations in June 2014 with the deployment of two officers to the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS).

Vietnam has gained access to and effectively used the joint resources of the UN, international partners and organizations in training, capacity building, including foreign language and peacekeeping training courses, the exchange of experts, and facility and equipment support.

Major General Hoang Kim Phung, head of the Vietnam Department of Peacekeeping Operations and AAPTC Chairperson, speaks at the event. Photo: qdnd.vn

Major General Abu Saleh Mohammad Ridwanur Rahman, President of AAPTC Secretariat, called on member countries to seek new opportunities and apply innovative approaches during the process of exploiting digital technology, and define short-, medium- and long-term targets, and strategic priorities to orient training needs.

On November 13, 2020, the National Assembly passed Resolution No. 130/2020/QH14 on joining the UN peacekeeping force, which clearly stipulates principles, forms, fields and forces, competence, force deployment process, guaranteed funding, regimes, policies and state management for the engagement in the UN peacekeeping force, VietnamPlus said.

To date, Vietnam has sent 76 individuals, including eight women, to work as liaison officers, staff officers, military observers, and intelligence analysis officers at the UN headquarters and its two missions in South Sudan (UNMISS), and the Central African Republic (MINUSCA).

Since 2020, the country has had four officers recruited to work at the Department of Peace Operations at the UN headquarters in New York and MINUSCA.

In 2018, Vietnam officially sent Level-2 Field Hospital Rotation 1 to conduct peacekeeping operations in Bentiu, South Sudan.

To date, it has sent over 250 officers and doctors of Level-2 Field Hospitals Rotations 1, 2, 3 and 4 to South Sudan.

On November 17, 2021, Vietnam officially made debut Sapper Unit No. 1. This is the first time Vietnam has sent a sapper team to participate in the UN peacekeeping operations and also the deployment of the largest number ever, with 184 soldiers, including 21 women./.

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