The ASEAN Regional Forum Defence Officials' Dialogue (ARF-DOD) ended inCambodia ’s capital Phnom Penh on May 25, with an agreement toenhance military cooperation when supplying humanitarian aid afternatural disasters and peacekeeping operations.
According to a summary of the two-day meeting, the talks emphasised theimportance of better coordination and information sharing across theregion to provide humanitarian assistance promptly after disastersoccur.
On peacekeeping operations, the forum wereof the view that modern peacekeeping operations require an integratedapproach, which includes a range of measures including conflictprevention, peacekeeping, and post-conflict reconstruction, said thereport.
The meeting identified several challengeswhen deploying peacekeeping forces such as proficiency in foreignlanguages, commitment to long-term deployments, and selecting the rightpersonnel for the right tasks.
In his closingremarks, Major General Lay Chenda, Director of the Cambodian DefenceMinistry's ASEAN Affairs Department, said the talks were successful andemphasised that security cooperation along with regional connectivityare the foundation for sustainable peace and stability.
The ARF-DOD was attended by defence officials from 27 countries,including ASEAN, the United States , Russia , China , India , Japanand the Republic of Korea .-VNA