A vessel of the Royal Australian Navy docked in Ho Chi Minh City on last Monday afternoon (30 May 2016), commencing its four-day friendly visit to Vietnam and the nation’s naval force. Commander Belinda Wood, captain of the Australian Navy frigate HMAS ANZAC, along with a crew of 215 naval officers and sailors arrived at the Nha Rong Wharf in Ho Chi Minh City at around 2:00 pm.
The visit, scheduled for May 30 to June 2 under the approval of Vietnam’s Ministry of National Defense, is aimed at cementing the friendly relationship between the Vietnamese and Australian navies and militaries in accordance with the spirit of the Memorandum of Understanding on National Defense Cooperation between the two countries
It is also expected to contribute to the positive development of the comprehensive Australia-Vietnam partnership. This is the 17th time that an Australian naval vessel has visited Vietnam and its 10th visit to Ho Chi Minh City. The HMAS ANZAC is 118 meters long, 14.8 meters wide, and weighs 3,900 metric tons.
Two vessels of the Indian naval force, the INS SATPURA and INS KIRCH, arrived on the same day at Cam Ranh International Seaport in the south-central Vietnamese province of Khanh Hoa. The two ships, carrying a total of 580 crew members, were slated to pay an official friendly visit to the Southeast Asian country from Monday to Friday this week. They are part of the Indian Navy’s fleet of four vessels which left the country on May 18 to carry out their missions in the Pacific Ocean and the East Vietnam Sea, and to attend an exercise with their United States and Japanese counterparts in late June.
Their journey includes visiting Cam Ranh Port and several other countries, namely the Philippines, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, and Russia. According to India’s Ministry of Defense, the activities are aimed at strengthening the bilateral relationship with the country’s partners and improving its navy’s coordination with foreign naval forces in maritime operations. Vietnam and India signed an agreement on strategic partnership in 2007 and a defense cooperation policy in 2009.
Two Japanese warships also made an appearance at the Vietnamese international seaport the day prior to the visit of the two Indian naval vessels.
Source: tuoitrenews
