General Phan Van Giang made the commendation while leading the Vietnamese delegation to attend the ASEAN - RoK Defense Ministers’ Informal Meeting held virtually on November 10.
The meeting, co-chaired by Brunei’s Second Minister of Defense Major General Pehin Datu Lailaraja Dato Paduka Seri Haji Awang Halbi bin Haji Md Yussof and RoK Defense Minister Suh Wook, was held on the occasion of the ASEAN Defense Ministers’ Meeting Retreat which took place via a video conferencing the same day.
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Defense Minister Phan Van Giang attends the ASEAN-RoK Defense Ministers’ Informal Meeting. |
ASEAN Secretary General Lim Jock Hoi and Vietnamese Deputy Defense Minister Senior Lieutenant General Hoang Xuan Chien also attended the meeting.
At the meeting, the participants highly appreciated the first ASEAN-RoK Defense Ministers’ Informal Meeting and applauded the two sides’ defense cooperation action plan developed by the RoK Defense Ministry with the aim of concretizing the RoK’s enhanced New Southern Policy in accordance with the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific (AOIP), laying the foundation for orienting ASEAN-RoK defense cooperation in the time ahead.
They also reviewed the multilateral cooperation in tackling non-traditional security challenges, evaluated possibility of cooperation in cyber security in the framework of ADMM+ in which the RoK plays a role as co-chair of the ADMM+ Experts’ Working Group on Cyber Security. They discussed measures to improve ASEAN’s peacekeeping capacity, including the increase in the number of peacekeeping training courses for military troops of ASEAN member states.
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The meeting is held virtually. |
Also at the event, the RoK side informed other participants of the upcoming U.N. Peacekeeping Defense Ministerial Meeting slated for this December.
In his speech, Vietnamese Defense Minister Phan Van Giang believed that the RoK will successfully co-host the ADMM+ Experts' Working Group on Cyber Security with Malaysia for the 2021-2023 tenure.
The Vietnamese defense chief highly praised the RoK’s cooperation commitments to ASEAN through the aforementioned action plan, contributing to maintaining peace and stability in the region, including the East Sea (South China Sea).
He voiced his support for the RoK’s proposals on measures to raise ASEAN’s peacekeeping capacity and the country’s host of U.N. Peacekeeping Defense Ministerial Meeting.
Speaking highly of the RoK’s COVID-19 response capacity, General Giang thanked the country for its support to ASEAN countries in general and Vietnam in particular in pandemic prevention and control.
Translated by Mai Huong