Addressing the event, Vietnamese Minister of National Defence General Phan Van Giang highlighted the role played by the ASEAN Defence Ministers' Meeting (ADMM) over the last 15 years in strengthening trust and building common awareness on regional security issues, including the East Sea issue.

Giang stressed that ASEAN needs to stick to its principled stance on the East Sea, and settle disputes by peaceful measures on the basis of international law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

At the retreat, a representative of Brunei said that the Retreat focuses on how to further promote the role of ADMM in moving the ASEAN Community forward in the spirit of the ASEAN 2021 theme of “We Care, We Prepare, We Prosper”./.

VNA