January 11, 2020 | 21:02 (GMT+7)
ASEAN Defense SOM Plus Working Group meeting opens
PANO – A meeting of the ASEAN Defense Senior Officials’ Meeting Plus Working Group (ADSOM +WG) was held on January 10 in Da Nang city, with the participation of over 100 delegates from ten ASEAN countries and eight dialogue partners: Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand, RoK, the US and Russia.
The meeting aimed to prepare documents and contents for the seventh ASEAN Defense Minister’s Meeting-Plus (ADMM Plus) to report to the ASEAN Defense Senior Officials’ Meeting Plus (ADSOM Plus), which will take place in Hanoi this August.
Participants will review the progress of the Experts’ Working Group of ADMM Plus in the 2017-2019 period and a new action plan for the 2020-2022 period. They will also contribute opinions and documents for the seventh ADMM Plus.
In addition, they will also prepare for the ADSOM Plus and discuss related issues.
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Gen. Vinh speaking at the event |
Addressing the opening ceremony, Deputy Minister of Defense Senior Lieutenant General Nguyen Chi Vinh said the ADSOM WG and ADSOM +WG were the first activities to open a series of the Vietnamese defense conferences in Vietnam in 2020. He also said that the Vietnamese Ministry of National Defense always attaches great importance to the position and role of these conferences.
The issues discussed at the conference will be a solid foundation for the success of other conferences such as ADSOM, ADSOM+, as well as ADMM and ADMM+, thereby promoting the ASEAN defense cooperation for the sake of peace, stability, security, and development in the region, he added.
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Delegates in a joint photo |
2020 will mark many important events for both ASEAN and Vietnam. This year Vietnam will host about 20 ASEAN military-defense activities including the ADMM and ADMM+ conferences along with other events. Gen. Vinh also emphasized that Vietnam wishes to receive more support from other ASEAN member states, as well as their partners during Vietnam’s ASEAN Chairmanship Year 2020.
Vietnam will promote initiatives proposed by the previous ASEAN Chairs, he added, affirming that the country’s prioritized agenda in 2020 will be for ASEAN’s common interests.
Earlier, a meeting of the ASEAN Defense Senior Officials’ Meeting (SOM) Working Group prepared documents for upcoming military-defense events to be hosted by Vietnam as the ASEAN Chair in 2020.
Translated by Lam Anh