Military plays crucial defence role President

HA NOI — The military was always the primary force to defend the country's independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity on land, sea and in the air, affirmed President Truong Tan Sang in Ha Noi yesterday.

The military also served as the main body in efforts to cope with natural disasters, rescue efforts and providing assistance to stabilise life and production, the President affirmed at his working session with the Defence Ministry's leaders on the implementation of future military and defence tasks.

The military had taken an active role in socio-economic development and poverty reduction programmes, development of socio-political grassroots establishments and the new cultural lifestyle, particularly in remote areas, he added.

Emphasising the rapidly changing and complicated global political and security situation, President Sang noted that the country's socio-economic situation faced difficulties and challenges, especially in terms of impacts from the global financial crises and economic turndown, natural disasters and diseases, and hostile forces inside and outside the country that continued to implement destructive activities and plot unrest.

The need to maintain independence, sovereignty, peace and stability for the country's socio-economic development meant there would be new requirements for the national defence and security task, he said.

The President agreed with the Ministry's operational programmes and solutions for this year, and urged it to pursue the goal of combining national independence and socialism, consider maintaining peace and stability for national development as its highest interest, and continue building the people's armed forces in a strong, comprehensive, regular, skillful and modern manner. — VNS

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