The fifth ASEAN Defence Ministers Meeting (ADMM-5), opened in Jakarta, Indonesia on May 19.

Themed “Strengthening Defence Cooperation of ASEAN and the Global Community to Face New Challenges”, the two-day meeting attracted the participation of 10 ASEAN Defence Ministers. The Vietnamese delegation was led by Party politburo member and Defence Minister Phung Quang Thanh.

Addressing the opening ceremony, Indonesian Defence Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro affirmed the significance of the meeting, which aims to increase peace and stability in the region.

Defence cooperation among ASEAN members plays an important role in dealing with regional security conflicts, advancing towards the target of building an ASEAN Community by 2015 with one of the three key pillars being Political-Security Community, he said.

Strong political and security relations among ASEAN members would help the bloc play a greater role in coping with global challenges, said Minister Yusgiantoro.

According to Minister Yusgiantoro, the world is facing challenges such as piracy, terrorism, human trafficking, maritime security, climate change, food security, energy security and natural resource decline.

These challenges will cause negative impacts on national defence in the future, and as a result increasing defence cooperation among ASEAN members is a must to build an ASEAN Community, Minister Yusgiantoro said.

On May 18, Indonesian Vice President Boediono received the Vietnamese Defence Minister on the sidelines of the ADMM-5.

At the meeting, Boediono spoke highly of Indonesia-Vietnam relations, saying he hoped that the relations would boost the process of building an ASEAN Community and increase member states’ capacity to deal with bilateral and multilateral issues, including defence and security issues.

The same day, the Cambodian and Thai Defence Ministers met and discussed possible solutions to the border dispute between the two countries./.