The meeting was chaired by the Minister of National Defense General Ngo Xuan Lich with Deputy Defense Minister Senior Lieutenant General Nguyen Chi Vinh and Deputy Chief of the General Staff Lieutenant General Ngo Minh Tien in attendance.

The Vietnamese Ministry of National Defense will host over 20 defense-military events of ASEAN in 2020. Considering the organization of these events as a primary task of the external defense affairs in the 2018-2020 period, the defense ministry has established a steering committee and sub-committees and mapped out their plans of action.

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At the event

Last year, the ministry conducted consultations with ASEAN members and partners to discuss relevant contents and initiatives that Vietnam People’s Army planned to propose in the ASEAN Chairmanship in 2020. The ministry’s priorities and initiatives were built up in close line with the theme of “Cohesion and Response” of the ASEAN Year 2020. Based on that, it chose “Defense cooperation for a Cohesive and Responsive ASEAN” as the theme of the ASEAN defense-military events in 2020.

Having been briefed on the task performances of the steering committee and the sub-committees, General Lich applauded their efforts and reaffirmed that the success of defense-military events in ASEAN Year 2020 will significantly contribute to improving the position of the Vietnam People’s Army in the international arena.

The Defense Minister urged them to continue focusing on making proper preparations on human resources and facilities while enhancing information dissemination on the ASEAN defense-military events in 2020. He also requested the Department of Foreign Relations, the permanent organ of the defense minister’s steering committee on ASEAN Year 2020, to regularly check the task implementation of the affiliated units and closely work with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to fulfill their assigned missions.

Translated by Trung Thanh