ASEAN Defense Senior Officials’ Meeting Plus Working Group opens

VGP - A meeting of the ASEAN Defense Senior Officials’ Meeting Plus Working Group (ADSOM + WG) opened in the central city of Da Nang on January 10.

January 11, 2020 4:19 PM GMT+7

Photo: VGP

The three-day event attracted the participation of 120 delegates from 10 ASEAN member states and eight dialogue partners namely Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand, the Republic of Korea, the U.S. and Russia).

It aims to make preparations for documents and contents of the 7th ASEAN Defense Ministers’ Meeting-Plus (ADMM Plus) to report to the ASEAN Defense Senior Officials’ Meeting Plus (ADSOM Plus), which will take place in Ha Noi in August this year.

The participants are expected to evaluate the progress of ADMM Plus Experts’ Working Group in the 2017-2019 period and a new action plan for the 2020-2022 one, and contribute opinions to documents of the 7^th ADMM Plus and make preparations for ADSOM .

Addressing the event, Lt. Gen. Nguyen Chi Vinh , Deputy Minister of National Defense highlighted that the year 2020 marks the 5^th founding anniversary of the ASEAN Community, the 10^th founding anniversary of the ADMM and the 25^th anniversary of Viet Nam’s participation in ASEAN.

Viet Nam looks forward to working with other ASEAN countries and partners to successfully organize ASEAN military-defense meetings in 2020, Vinh said.

He affirmed Viet Nam will continue accelerating its initiatives as the ASEAN Chair this year while appreciating initiatives from other ASEAN member countries and partners.

Vinh urged the participants to actively participate in discussions, give comments and propose new initiatives to further strengthen defense cooperation for a cohesive and responsive ASEAN./.

By Thuy Dung