The 15th ASEAN Chiefs of Army Multilateral Meeting Opens

PANO - The 15^th ASEAN Chiefs of Army Multilateral Meeting officially opened in Hanoi on November 26^th. Senior Lieutenant General Do Ba Ty, Chief of the General Staff, Deputy Defense Minister, attended the event. Lieutenant General Nguyen Quoc Khanh, Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Vietnam People’s Army chaired the meeting.

Themed “Improving coordination capacity among ASEAN armies in response to non-traditional challenges”, ACAMM-15 is of practical significance in the context that non-traditional challenges have been increasingly occurring in various forms and in large scale, causing devastative consequences, which no single country can handle on its own. And ACAMM-15 is where ASEAN chiefs of army discuss solutions to common regional security issues, contributing to peace, stability, development, and building an ASEAN community by 2015 and beyond.

Sr. Lt. Gen. Do Ba Ty and ASEAN chiefs of army taking photos

ACAMM has become an important cooperation mechanism for response to security challenges in the region, especially non-traditional ones. Over the past years, ACAMM has proposed practical initiatives to increase cooperation and coordination in humanitarian aid and disaster relief including the ASEAN Regional Disaster Response Simulation Exercise 2013 (ARDEX-13) in Hanoi.

In that context, the Vietnam People’s Army has been expanding military-defense cooperation with armies of ASEAN state members while promoting existing multilateral military-defense mechanisms in the region. Vietnam has also been making efforts in building new mechanisms suitable to regional security and cooperation.

Delegates discussing on the sidelines of the meeting

In his welcome speech, Senior Lieutenant General Do Ba Ty, on behalf of the Vietnam People’s Army, thanked ASEAN chiefs of army for coming to ACAMM-15. That Vietnam is hosting the meeting right before the 70^th founding anniversary of the Vietnam People's Army (December 22^nd, 2014) makes it the honor for the host, affirming high determination of the country to boost cooperation among ASEAN armies, practically contributing to building an ASEAN community of peace, stability, cooperation and prosperity.