Defence external activities contribute to raising national status PANO – Defence external activities made an important contribution to firmly protecting the country’s sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity, as well as national interests, according to the conclusion drawn from the Conference held by the Defence Ministry on January 7th to summarise defence external activities in 2012. Deputy Defence Minister, Senior Lieutenant General Nguyen Chi Vinh chaired the Conference, which was also connected online to Defence agencies. According to reports on defence external activities in 2012, Chief of the Defence External Department, Major General Vu Chien Thang said that, although the world’s political and security situation saw complex changes, defence external activities, under the leadership and instruction of the Standing Committee of the Central Military Commission and leaders of the Defence Ministry, were carried out actively and effectively. The competent agencies responsible for defence external activities provided good consultancy on major international issues, especially those related to sovereignty and territory, for the Party, State and Defence. Defence external activities focused on developing ties and cooperation with Vietnam’s border-sharing nations and strengthened the ties, made cooperation deeper, more stable and practical, in an effort to boost national development and raise the status of the country and Army in the international arena. Additionally, Defence external activities contributed to maintaining major powers to keep the strategic balance; firmly pursued the independence and self-reliance policy to create a higher position for the country; boosted ties with developed countries to take advantage of their advanced military science and technology for building military capabilities; and at the same time, maintain ties with traditional friend-nations to seek mutual political support. In general, Defence external activities in 2012 created a new force for speeding up the building of a revolutionary, elite, standardized and constantly modernizing Army, contributing to promoting the political confidence of international friends in Vietnam. Addressing the Conference, Senior Lieutenant General Nguyen Chi Vinh highly valued the results of the defence external work in 2012 and highlighted its support for the Party’s and State’s external cause, the implementation of the defence task of protecting the Fatherland from distance, and firmly guarding national sovereignty. He stressed that the defence external work is to build confidence and understand situations in order to give good advice to competent agencies to work out proper policies, as well as increase defence capabilities and military strength. The Deputy Defence Minister also pointed out some shortcomings in defence external activities in 2012 and asked involved agencies to learn from the lessons in order to better fulfil their tasks in 2013. Translated by Thu Nguyen