The meeting aimed to promote defence cooperation among the 10 ASEAN member states, promote Vietnam’s role as the Chair of ASEAN in 2020, implement the outcomes of the Special ASEAN Summit and Special ASEAN Plus Three Summit on COVID-19 Response, and the joint statement on defence cooperation in disease response adopted at the ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting Retreat. Addressing the event, Vinh stressed that the COVID-19 has become a global challenge seriously affecting all ASEAN member states in general and the ASEAN 2020 Agenda in particular. He asked participants to review the ASEAN defence collaboration in COVID-19 prevention and control, exchange opinions on the regional security situation, and make proposals to improve defence cooperation among the ASEAN member states./.