during a virtual meeting with Atul Khare, UN Under-Secretary General for Field Support.

Vinh highlighted Vietnamese peacekeepers’ COVID-19 relief efforts in Africa, saying they have also helped local children study and taught local people about good personal hygiene to prevent the transmission of the disease.

The force has also produced and given away face masks to international colleagues and local citizens to fight the pandemic, he added.

The official said Vietnam is actively preparing for the third Level-2 field hospital to replace the one in South Sudan.

Khare, for his part, congratulated Vietnam on its success in containing the virus, saying he also appreciated the hospital’s contributions to the local coronavirus response.

He said he expects Vietnam will ramp up such activities to further support the UN Mission in South Sudan.

The UN official suggested the two sides take necessary steps to enhance the preparedness of Vietnamese military engineers, who received intensive training for the peacekeeping mission the African country.

The two officials later discussed the organisation of a conference on women and UN peacekeeping missions and a celebration of the 10th anniversary of the ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting Plus (ADMM+) initiated by Vietnam. VNA