Major General Hoang Kim Phung, Director of the Vietnam Department of Peacekeeping Operations, talks to the trainees during the course. (Photo: VNA)

Director of the Department Maj. Gen. Hoang Kim Phung said it has organised the course since 2017 but this is the first time it has been held via both online and in-person forms due to COVID-19.

The course attracts the participation of 16 trainees from 10 units of the Defence Ministry. All have a good professional background and English skills.

The course provides basic knowledge on UN military staff for trainees who are about to join UN peacekeeping missions or participate in management, advisory work, research, and teaching at units involved in peacekeeping missions inside and outside of the Defence Ministry.

It also helps improve the department’s capacity for organising international training courses on UN peacekeeping, with the aim of increasing the quality of the country’s UN peacekeeping training facility.

This is also a chance to intensify the friendship between Vietnam and the US, the EU, and other partners in UN peacekeeping.

Head of the lecturer delegation Julian Bower hailed Vietnam’s efforts to be the first country carrying out the GPOI-assisted training course via both online and in-person forms.

BTA