Participants at the event (Photo: VNA)Kuala Lumpur (VNA) – The third ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting Plus (ADMM+) kicked off in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on November 4 to seek measures to ensure regional security.
Defence ministers from the 10 ASEAN member states and eight partner countries namely Australia, China, Japan, the Republic of Korea, India, New Zealand, Russia and the US participated in the event.
The Vietnamese delegation to the function was led by Deputy Defence Minister Admiral Nguyen Van Hien.
In his opening speech, Malaysian Defence Minister Hishammuddin Hussein called on defence leaders of ASEAN and its partners to make stronger commitments to and take the lead in ensuring security in the Asia-Pacific and other regions, given emerging security challenges such as threats from the self-claimed Islamic State (IS) and cyber security.
He hailed the ASEAN partners’ contributions to the ADMM+ cooperation mechanism, which, he said, is proving effective.
During a closed-door meeting on the same day, the ministers will discuss solutions to regional and global pressing issues like navigation, aviation safety and security, terrorism combat and cyber security.
They also touched upon non-traditional security challenges such as natural disasters and diseases, which are threatening national efforts in poverty reduction and realisation of Millennium Development Goals and Sustainable Development Goals.-VNA
