The second International Defence Dialogue Jakarta 2012 (IDD 2012) opened in Jakarta , Indonesia on March 21.
This year’s forum focuses on strengthening security and stability in
the Asia-Pacific region as well as globally, in the context of rapid and
complicated developments in world geo-political situations.
Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, UN Secretary-General
Ban Ki-moon, Timor Leste Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao and about 1,500
defence officials and researchers from 45 countries participated in the
event. The Vietnamese delegation is led by Major-General Nguyen Dinh
Chien, Director of the Military Strategy Institute under the Ministry of
National Defence.
Speaking at the event, UN
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon highly valued Indonesia ’s initiative
and efforts to organise this forum, saying it is a good opportunity for
countries to exchange views on common threats and challenges and seek
ways to deal with them.
He said that instabilities
in the Middle East and North Africa, especially the current situation
of Syria, nuclear issues in Iran and the Democratic People’s Republic of
Korea and situations in Africa and Latin America show that the UN needs
to give more priority to protecting human rights and maintaining peace,
security and stability in the world.
He called on
UN Security Council members to seek a common voice for the issue of
Syria and strengthen their participation in and support for the UN
peacekeeping mission.
The UN leader emphasised the
importance of the Nuclear Security Summit, which is scheduled to take
place in the Republic of Korea on March 26.
Meanwhile, the President of the host country underlined the role and
active contributions of Indonesia in particular and ASEAN in general
to peacefully solving differences and disputes on territorial
sovereignty among ASEAN member countries as well as between ASEAN and
other countries.
The goodwill and trust-building
spirit play an important role in maintaining peace, security and
stability, reflected by the fact that ASEAN and China reached the
Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC) in 2011 and
are looking towards the building of a Code of Conduct in the East Sea
(COC), he said.
According to President Susilo
Bambang Yudhoyono, countries should step up global cooperative efforts
to solve current traditional and non-traditional challenges such as food
and energy security, terrorism, piracy, climate change, humanitarian
aid, disarmament and non-proliferation of nuclear weapons.
On the sidelines of IDD 2012, which will last until March 23, the
host country is organising an exhibition on military equipment, weapons
and technologies.-VNA