Wednesday, 28/09/2016 18:09 (GMT+7)
(CPV) - The Vietnam People's Navy (VPN) and the US Navy on September 28th kicked off the seventh annual Naval Engagement Activity (NEA) Vietnam with a welcome ceremony at Tien Sa port in Central Da Nang city.
By focusing on non-combatant events, NEA Vietnam 2016 will include symposia in military medicine and maritime law, subject-matter expert exchanges in navigation, shipboard medicine and damage control and community service events including multiple performances by the US Navy’s 7th Fleet Rock Band “Orient Express”.
The engagement has evolved from annual port visits to Da Nang by US Navy ships, which began more than a decade ago, to a multi-day bilateral naval engagement ashore and at sea. The engagement, each year, becomes more complex, and last year marked the first time a littoral combat ship, USS Fort Worth (LCS 3), participated.
Photo: US Embassy Hanoi"Our coordination with the VPN and Da Nang city People’s Committee continues to be positive and productive, and we appreciate the efforts of the US country team in Hanoi to continually deepen our partnership with the VPN. We’ve expanded the sea phase this year to incorporate a more complex CUES event and search and rescue scenario," said Captain. H. B. Le, commodore, Destroyer Squadron 7.
Accordingly, the two sides will practice communications through the Code for Unplanned Encounters at Sea (CUES) and conduct a search and rescue scenario.
US assets participating in 2016 include the guided-missile destroyer USS John S McCain (DDG 56), personnel from CTF 73, DESRON 7, and the US 7th Fleet Band "Orient Express".
These activities are designed to foster mutual understanding, build confidence in the maritime domain and develop bilateral relationships as Vietnam and the US marked the 21st anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic ties this July./.
ATP