A Vietnamese delegation led by Major General Vu Tien Trong, Director of the Institute for Defence International Relations under the Ministry of National Defence, attended the 13th ASEAN Regional Forum Security Policy Conference (ASPC) in Laos’s former capital city of Luang Prabang on May 6.

The conference drew the participation of the bloc’s 10 member states and 17 dialogue partners and observer countries, including the US, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Australia, India, China and Russia.

The primary objectives of this year’s ASPC were to evaluate regional security and propose cooperation solutions in an attempt to build trust and create preventive measures, while putting forward conflict management and monitoring measures.

The 13th ASEAN Regional Forum Security Policy Conference (ASPC) in Laos’s former capital city of Luang Prabang. Source: VOV

Participants shared the same view that multilateral collaboration is needed to address regional security challenges.

They also discussed measures to enhance regional and international efforts against global terrorism, especially matters relating to the Southeast Asian and Asia-Pacific regions, nuclear weapons in the Korean Peninsula and marine security in the East Sea.

The delegations proposed opening a hotline in order to strengthening information exchanges between defence officials to jointly handle conflicts by peaceful measures.

The conference appreciated the region’s mechanisms such as the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), the ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting (ADMM), the ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting Plus (ADMM+) as well as the bloc’s leading role in maintaining regional and international peace, stability and development.

Source: VNA