PANO – The Vice-Director of the General Department of Politics, Lieutenant-General Dao Duy Minh on May 18^th gave courtesy reception to a delegation of the South Africa Defence Counter-Espionage Department led by Major-General T. Matlakeng, the Chief of the Agency, who is on his working visit to Vietnam from May 17^th to 22^nd.

At the reception, the Vice-Director of the General Department of Politics said that Vietnam and South Africa have much in common and that the two nations always render much support to each other during their struggles for national liberation and freedom in the past and present national development.

Bilateral defence ties between Vietnam and South Africa have been marked by an agreement on defence cooperation signed during an official visit of former Vietnamese Defence Minister, General Pham Van Tra to South Africa in 2006. The host believed that the visit of the South African Defence Counter-Espionage delegation should further strengthen the bilateral friendly and cooperative ties between the two nations and defence organisations, especially the two defence counter-espionage sectors.

Major-General Matlakeng thanked the leader of the Vietnamese General Department of Politics for his reception and briefed the contents of earlier working sessions between the Vietnamese and South African defence counter-espionage delegations, including the directions on cooperation and experience exchanges between the two sides in the future.

On the morning of the same day, the South African defence delegation paid a courtesy call to the Hanoi Capital High Command and visited its subordinate unit of Regiment 692, Division 301.

At the meeting with the South African delegation, Political Commissar of the Hanoi Capital High Command, Major-General Le Manh Hung, warmly welcomed the guests and expressed hope that South African defence officials would have more understanding of Vietnam, its people and Army.

The guests showed their delight to visit Vietnam and thanked for the friendliness that made them feel almost at home.

They also said that they had learnt a number of lessons and experiences during the visit and admired victories and experiences of the nation and its Army during the struggle for national independence and freedom in the past.