The First ASEAN Defence Ministers' Meeting Plus (ADMM+) opened inHanoi on October 12, promoting dialogue and cooperation to maintainpeace and stability in the region.
Themed “ADMM+: StrategicCooperation for Peace, Stability and Development in the Region”, themeeting has drawn defence ministers or representatives from the 10 ASEANmember countries and eight partners, namelyChina, Japan, the Republicof Korea, India, New Zealand, Australia, Russia and the United States.
Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung delivered a speech, underlining the significance of the first ADMM+.
“Themeeting is a new step-forward in ASEAN's defence cooperation and isanother important event in the year that Vietnam holds the ASEANChair,” he said.
He said the meeting would try to reach aconsensus on how to develop the forum, particularly areas of cooperationand operational principles to help joint efforts to deal withtraditional and non-traditional security challenges such as terrorism,maritime security and safety, transnational crimes and naturaldisasters.
“Maintaining peace and stability in the region is the aspiration of every country in and outside the region,” said the PM.
Toturns these goals into reality, PM Dung urged countries to step uptalks and cooperation to build confidence and mutual trust and to comeup with rules of conduct. Particularly important is respect for theindependence and sovereignty of each nation and dealing with disputes ina peaceful manner in accordance with international laws, including the1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.
He also asked thoseattending to continue promoting ways of maintaining peace and securityin ASEAN, pointing out the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in SoutheastAsia (TAC), the Treaty for a Southeast Asian Nuclear Weapon-Free Zone(SEANWFZ), the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea(DOC), the ASEAN Treaty on Anti-Terrorism Measures and other jointdeclarations between ASEAN and its partners.
In his openingspeech, Vietnamese Defence Minister General Phung Quang Thanh, who isalso chair of ADMM+, stressed the strategic significance of a defencecooperation mechanism in ADMM+.
“Firstly, this is one of theforum that will help to build a common awareness of regional security,to identify areas of cooperation in defence that are practical.”
ADMM+is the highest level forum on defence in the region, he said, addingthat it is also a level playing field, which benefits all participatingparties, while harmonising relations, increasing capacity andstrengthening ties and exchanges between the armed forces of all thecountries involved.
After the opening session, the forum waspresented with the ASEAN General Secretary’s update on ASEANdevelopment, a presentation on the progress of ASEAN defence-militarycooperation towards a goal of an ASEAN Politics-Security Community.
Theydiscussed defence-related issues, the prospects and directions forfuture cooperation in the framework of ADMM+ and adopted the meeting’sjoint statement./.
Themed “ADMM+: StrategicCooperation for Peace, Stability and Development in the Region”, themeeting has drawn defence ministers or representatives from the 10 ASEANmember countries and eight partners, namelyChina, Japan, the Republicof Korea, India, New Zealand, Australia, Russia and the United States.
Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung delivered a speech, underlining the significance of the first ADMM+.
“Themeeting is a new step-forward in ASEAN's defence cooperation and isanother important event in the year that Vietnam holds the ASEANChair,” he said.
He said the meeting would try to reach aconsensus on how to develop the forum, particularly areas of cooperationand operational principles to help joint efforts to deal withtraditional and non-traditional security challenges such as terrorism,maritime security and safety, transnational crimes and naturaldisasters.
“Maintaining peace and stability in the region is the aspiration of every country in and outside the region,” said the PM.
Toturns these goals into reality, PM Dung urged countries to step uptalks and cooperation to build confidence and mutual trust and to comeup with rules of conduct. Particularly important is respect for theindependence and sovereignty of each nation and dealing with disputes ina peaceful manner in accordance with international laws, including the1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.
He also asked thoseattending to continue promoting ways of maintaining peace and securityin ASEAN, pointing out the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in SoutheastAsia (TAC), the Treaty for a Southeast Asian Nuclear Weapon-Free Zone(SEANWFZ), the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea(DOC), the ASEAN Treaty on Anti-Terrorism Measures and other jointdeclarations between ASEAN and its partners.
In his openingspeech, Vietnamese Defence Minister General Phung Quang Thanh, who isalso chair of ADMM+, stressed the strategic significance of a defencecooperation mechanism in ADMM+.
“Firstly, this is one of theforum that will help to build a common awareness of regional security,to identify areas of cooperation in defence that are practical.”
ADMM+is the highest level forum on defence in the region, he said, addingthat it is also a level playing field, which benefits all participatingparties, while harmonising relations, increasing capacity andstrengthening ties and exchanges between the armed forces of all thecountries involved.
After the opening session, the forum waspresented with the ASEAN General Secretary’s update on ASEANdevelopment, a presentation on the progress of ASEAN defence-militarycooperation towards a goal of an ASEAN Politics-Security Community.
Theydiscussed defence-related issues, the prospects and directions forfuture cooperation in the framework of ADMM+ and adopted the meeting’sjoint statement./.
