Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Defence General Phan Van Giang (Right) and Australian Ambassador to Viet Nam Gillian Bird at their meeting in Ha Noi on July 29, 2026. (Photo: Nhan Dan Newspaper)

On July 29, at the headquarters of the Ministry of National Defence, Member of the Politburo, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Defence General Phan Van Giang received Australian Ambassador to Vietnam Gillian Bird.

Emphasising that Vietnam has always appreciated its relationship with Australia and regarding defence cooperation as an important pillar of bilateral relationship, General Phan Van Giang expressed satisfaction that defence cooperation between the two countries had continued to develop effectively and substantively on the basis of the 2010 Memorandum of Understanding on Defence Cooperation and the 2018 Joint Vision Statement on Enhancing Defence Cooperation, focusing on many areas including delegation exchanges; dialogues-consultations; training; United Nations peacekeeping; information sharing and experience exchanging among military services and branches; efforts to address the consequences of war; multilateral defence cooperation, and particularly within the ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting Plus framework.

General Giang thanked the Australian Government and Department of Defence for deploying transport aircraft to help Vietnam transport its level-2 field hospital to the United Nations peacekeeping mission in South Sudan. Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of National Defence Phan Van Giang expressed hope that in the next period, the two sides would further deepen existing areas of cooperation and expand collaboration into other potential fields. Priority areas include exchanges of delegations at all levels, particularly high-level visits; search and rescue; cooperation between border guard and coast guard forces; training; United Nations peacekeeping; the defence industry; efforts to address the consequences of war; and mutual consultation and support at regional defence cooperation mechanisms, especially the ADMM-Plus.

General Phan Van Giang said the Vietnamese Ministry of National Defence welcomed Australia’s proposal to send experts to Vietnam in 2026 to exchange experience in accessing and using databases held by both sides concerning Vietnamese soldiers during the war, contributing to the 500-day-and-night campaign launched by the Vietnamese Government to accelerate the search, recovery, and identification of martyrs’ remains.

General Phan Van Giang respectfully invites leaders of the Australian Department of Defence and Australian defence companies to attend the 3rd Vietnam International Defence Expo in December 2026.

Highly valuing the Australia-Vietnam relationship and cooperation between the two Defence Ministries, Ambassador Gillian Bird welcomed the positive results achieved in bilateral defence cooperation in recent years; while expressing hope that Australia and Vietnam would continue promoting increasingly substantive and effective bilateral relations, including defence cooperation, thereby contributing to regional and global stability, development, and prosperity.

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