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Australia to train Vietnamese military personnel

Xinhua, March 18, 2015 Adjust font size:

About 120 Vietnamese military personnel will be able to receive training alongside Australian defense forces as the two countries vowed on Wednesday to deepen cooperation in many areas.

Visiting Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and his Australian counterpart Tony Abbott witnessed in the Parliament House on Wednesday the signing of agreement on comprehensive partnership, which covers a broad range of fields including security, English-language training, peacekeeping missions, expanded cooperation for special forces, search and rescue, and response to disasters, epidemics and climate change.

"It is good to see that 120 Vietnamese military personnel will be receiving some training here in Australia and ... Vietnamese military personnel will be involved in joint exercises here in Australia," Abbott said during a joint press conference.

Abbott also stressed on the shared interest in peace and stability in the Asia Pacific region.

Prime Minister Dung promised to exercise "self-restraint and refrain from actions that may escalate the tension in the region, including the use of force to unilaterally change the status quo."

Both sides also vowed to strengthen ties by cooperating with each other in the Trans-Pacific Partnership, to be finalized this year.

Dung arrived in Sydney on Monday evening for a three-day visit here, his second one after 2008. Endi