Vietnam lauds RoK’s cooperation commitments to ASEAN

Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnamese Minister of National Defence General Phan Van Giang spoke highly of cooperation commitments of the Republic of Korea (RoK) to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) at the ASEAN-RoK Defence Ministers’ Informal Meeting held virtually on November 10.

He said that the RoK’s commitments have contributed to consolidating peace and stability in the region, including the East Sea.

The minister noted his support for the RoK’s proposals on measures to improve ASEAN’s peace-keeping capacity, as well as the country’s organisation of the 2021 Seoul UN Peacekeeping Ministerial in December.

The RoK has made contributions to ASEAN-led cooperation mechanisms, especially the ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting Plus (ADMM ), Giang said, expressing his hope that the country will successfully hold the co-chairmanship of the ADMM-Plus Experts' Working Group on Cyber Security with Malaysia for the 2021-2023 tenure.

Praising the RoK’s capacity in COVID-19 response, the minister thanked the country for its support to ASEAN members and Vietnam in particular in this regard.

The meeting was co-chaired by Brunei’s Second Minister of Defence Major General (Retired) Dato Paduka Seri Haji Awang Halbi bin Haji Md Yussof, and RoK Defence Minister Suh Wook.

 

Suh proposed a plan of action on defence cooperation between ASEAN and the RoK, and shared his views on multilateral cooperation in tackling non-traditional security challenges and cypersecurity cooperation possibility in ADMM-Plus.

He also touched upon measures to raise the capacity of ASEAN’s peacekeeping forces.

The participating ministers applauded the RoK’s action plan that aims to concretize its enhanced New Southern Policy, in line with the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific (AOIP), creating a basis to guide defence ties between the two sides in the time ahead./.