Defence ministers and senior officials from ASEAN member states and dialogue countries are gathering in Brunei for a series of meetings from August 27-29.

The Vietnamese delegation is led by Minister of National Defence Gen. Phung Quang Thanh.
 
The ASEAN defence chiefs are scheduled to attend the ASEAN Defence Senior Officials’ Meeting Retreat (ADSOM Retreat) on August 27 and the ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting Retreat (ADMM Retreat) next day.

They will also participate in an ASEAN-US unofficial meeting and other bilateral meetings.

At the second ASEAN Defence Ministers Meeting Plus (ADMM+) slated for August 29, delegates from ASEAN and its partners, namely Australia, China, India, Japan, the Republic of Korea, New Zealand, Russia and the US, will focus discussions on progress made in five cooperation areas.

These areas include maritime security, counter-terrorism, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, peacekeeping operations and military medicine.

Delegates will witness the hand-over of the ADMM Chairmanship from Brunei to Myanmar and the signing of the meeting’s joint statement.

The ADMM+ is described as "a tool to engage ASEAN Dialogue Partners in dialogue and cooperation on defence and security matters", said the ADMM website.

The first ADMM+ was held in Vietnam in 2010 during which participants raised concern about current non-traditional security challenges such as pirate, network security and climate change.

They acknowledged the need for cooperation within ASEAN and between the grouping and its partners in addressing these emerging issues, heading to the ASEAN Community by 2015.-VNA