Vietnamese Deputy Minister of National Defense Sen. Lt. Gen. Hoang Xuan Chien held bilateral meetings, focusing on defense cooperation, with many officials of different countries at the 21st Shangri-La Dialogue, which kicked off in Singapore on Friday.

Deputy Minister Chien, who is also a member of the Central Military Commission, led a Vietnamese defense delegation to attend the event from May 31 to June 2.

The dialogue, which is Asia’s annual premier defense summit, gathered some 550 delegates from 40 countries around the world to discuss serious security challenges facing the region and the world in general, according to the Vietnam News Agency.

Chien attended the first plenary session of the event on Saturday morning and had a bilateral meeting with Dr. Bastian Giegerich, director-general and chief executive of the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), the organizer of the event, later on the same day.

The Vietnamese official told Giegerich that Vietnam highly appreciates the role of Shangri-La Dialogue in strengthening regional security and safety, affirming that the country will continue to participate in the event in the future.

The annual event provides opportunities for defense and military leaders of countries to meet and engage in bilateral discussions on cooperation, as well as connect with their partners, Chien said.

The deputy minister proposed that the Singapore-based IISS-Asia office promote research cooperation and academic exchange with Vietnamese research agencies, including the Hanoi-based Institute for Defense Strategy.

The IISS leader agreed to Chien’s proposal and suggested that the two sides discuss specific details of the cooperation in the near future.

At his meeting with Permanent Secretary of the Singaporean Ministry of National Defense Chan Heng Kee, Chien requested that both sides promote the agreements made since last year's defense policy dialogue. He also urged enhanced cooperation in personnel training, search and rescue operations, and digital transformation within the military.

Chien proposed extending the working period of Vietnam’s liaison officers at Singapore’s Information Fusion Centre (IFC).

Agreeing to Chien’s proposals, Chan said Singapore would discuss them in detail in the coming time.

Earlier on Friday, the Vietnamese deputy minister and his accompanying officials visited the IFC at Changi Naval Base, where they encouraged the liaison officers of the Vietnam People’s Army working there.

Chien and IFC leaders exchanged views on the IFC’s organizational structure and tasks, and discussed future maritime information exchange.

Vietnam has so far dispatched 22 officers to work at the IFC center, all of whom have been lauded for their performance.

Over the past two days, Chien has also met with numerous defense officials from various countries, focusing on steps to enhance defense cooperation.

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