Hanoi, July 29 -- Vietnam attaches great importance to its relationship with Australia and regards defence cooperation as a key pillar of bilateral ties, said Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Defence General Phan Van Giang at a reception for Australian Ambassador to Vietnam Gillian Bird in Hanoi on July 29. He expressed satisfaction that joint work has continued to develop in a practical and effective manner under the countries' 2010 memorandum of understanding on defence cooperation and the 2018 joint vision statement on enhancing defence cooperation, covering a broad range of areas. Expressing appreciation to the Australian Government and Department of Defence for providing military transport aircraft to assist Vietnam in ...