A high-ranking military Vietnamese delegation led by Defence Minister General Phung Quang Thanh attended the ASEAN defence ministers retreat, which opened in Bangkok on Nov. 3.

The ASEAN General Secretary and the Defence Ministers reaffirmed the importance of ASEAN’s national defence agencies in working with social and civilian agencies and organisations to provide humanitarian support to people in areas that have suffered natural disasters. They agreed that the support was inline with the spirit of the 15 th ASEAN Summit, which encouraged encourage military units to work with the relevant agencies when carrying out their humanitarian mission.

They also stressed the need to boost defence cooperation with ASEAN’s partners with a plan to set up an ASEAN Plus mechanism, that conforms with ASEAN’s external policies, especially when the grouping is facing many challenges and non-conventional threats to their security, including natural disasters, maritime security, the trafficking of women and children, terrorism and cross-border crimes.

On the sidelines of the meeting, Minister Thanh met with his counterparts from Thailand , Malaysia , Indonesia and Brunei to discuss measures aimed at boosting bilateral cooperation in the framework of ADMM and other ASEAN agreements.

He is also scheduled to attend the opening ceremony of the International Defence and Security Exhibition in Bangkok on Nov. 4 before paying an official visit to India at the invitation of his Indian counterpart Ak Antony./.