Phetchaburi (VNA) – The ASEAN DefenceSenior Officials’ Meeting Plus (ADSOM+) took place in Thailand’s Phetchaburiprovince on April 4.

The bloc’s eight country partners attended theevent, namely Australia, China, India, Japan, the Republic of Korea, NewZealand, Russia, and the US.

Participants reviewed the reports of ADSOM+ working groups and the ASEAN Secretariat on the association’s development over recenttimes. The contents will be submitted to the ASEAN Defence Ministers’ MeetingPlus (ADMM+), which is scheduled to be held in Thailand at the year’s end.

They spent a significant amount of time updatingall on the ADMM experts’ working groups’ results over the past three yearsfrom 2016 to 2018 in the fields of humanitarian assistance and disaster relief,navigation security, military medicine, anti-terrorism, peacekeeping, and cybersecurity.

The ADMM+ experts’ working group on humanitarianmine action co-chaired by Laos and Russia spoke highly of the outcomes ofVietnam-India working group in the previous period, which laid a goodfoundation for the next group to complete the set targets.

As planned, the ADMM+ will take place at the endof this year to talk about action groups for the 2020-2023 period. Vietnam andJapan are due to co-chair the experts’ action group on peacekeeping.

At the ADSOM+, senior officials discussed thedraft joint statement of the ADMM+ on promoting cooperation for sustainablesecurity. 

ADMM+ members are expected to reiterate theircommitments to peace, security, and stability in the region by respectinginternationally-recognised principles and enhancing collaboration for mutualbenefits.

Participants agreed that the cooperation betweenASEAN member countries and the bloc’s partners has continued to prove effectivewithin the framework of the ADMM+.

At the ADSOM+, Deputy Defence Minister Sen. Lt.Gen. Nguyen Chi Vinh shared Vietnam’s plan to organise the ADMM+ in Hanoi in2020, a special occasion in celebration of the 10th founding anniversary ofADMM+.

He said that Vietnam plans to submit to ASEANdefence ministers a draft strategic vision on Asia-Pacific security towardspeace and cooperation, as well as several initiatives of Vietnam and otherASEAN countries.

Vietnam also plans to organise a workshoporienting the future operations of ADMM+ to ensure pragmatic operationalefficiency, he added.

The official stressed that Vietnam hopes that ASEANcountries and ADMM+ main partners will join the consultation.

As Chair of ASEAN in 2020, Vietnam will do itsbest in preparations for defence conferences, he added. –VNA