Vietnam, India hold joint peacekeeping exercise

Vietnamese and Indian military forces jointly participated in a peacekeeping exercise in Hanoi on Monday as part of the ongoing Vietnam-India Bilateral Army Exercise (VINBAX) 2023, held in the Vietnamese capital from December 11 to 21. Senior Lieutenant General Phung Si Tan (first row, L, 4th), deputy chief of the General Staff of the Vietnam People's Army, attends a peacekeeping exercise in Hanoi, December 18, 2023. Colonel Aseem Gupta, head of the Indian army delegation, said this marked the fourth joint peacekeeping exercise between Vietnam and India and the second field drill on peacekeeping between the two countries’ militaries. Compared to the first edition organized in 2018 in India, this year's peacekeeping exercise featured an elevated level, incorporating additional field training exercises. Colonel Gupta emphasized that the primary lesson gleaned from this field exercise is the potential for close cooperation between Vietnamese and Indian peacekeepers.