Vietnamese delegation, led by Deputy Director of the Department of External Relations under the Ministry of National Defense and Head of Vietnamese ADSOM WG Senior Colonel Pham Manh Thang, attended the event in Hanoi.
The ADSOM WG and ADSOM+ WG were chaired by Lieutenant General Lay Chenda, Deputy Director-General of the General Department of Policy and Foreign Affairs under the Cambodian Ministry of National Defense and Head of Cambodian ADSOM WG.
The delegates continued discussing contents, which had not been scrutinized at the previous ADSOM WG and ADSOM+ WG meetings held in Phnom Penh in February.
In particular, the ADSOM WG meeting looked into draft documents proposed by Cambodia, including a concept document on enhancing cooperation among ASEAN member countries’ defense forces in trans-border disease control, a concept document on increasing the support mechanism for ASEAN servicewomen participating in peacekeeping operations, a concept document on the establishment of cooperative relationship among ASEAN defense academies, and a document on military history research for sustainable peace, among others.
Delegates also gave opinions to the draft Phnom Penh Vision on the role of ASEAN defense agencies in assisting with post-pandemic recovery and the joint statements of the ASEAN Defense Ministers’ Meeting (ADMM) and the ADMM+ as well as considered the organization of informal meetings between defense ministers of ASEAN member countries and its partners in 2022.
At the meetings, ASEAN members also focused their discussions on the preparations for the ADSOM and ADSOM+, which are scheduled to take place form May 16 to 18 in Siem Reap, Cambodia. Participating delegates were also updated on activities within the ASEAN Direct Communications Infrastructure (ADI) by Brunei, the proposal to consider the legal status of the ASEAN Center of Military Medicine (ACMM) by Thailand, ASEAN-India Maritime Exercise by Singapore, and Australia’s idea to annualize the informal meeting between ASEAN members’ defense ministers and their Australian counterpart by Laos.
Meanwhile, ADSOM+ WG meeting provided updates on the work plans of the ADMM+ experts’ working groups for 2021 - 2023.
Representing the ADMM+ experts’ working group on peacekeeping that was co-chaired by Vietnam and Japan, Vietnamese and Japanese head delegates shared the Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) initiative on the basis of the U.N.’s WPS agenda. They also updated the participation on the work plan as well as the outcomes in cooperation of the working group over the past time.
Based on the outcomes of the ADSOM WG meeting, delegates discussed the Joint statement of the ADMM+ meeting and preparations for ADSOM+.
Vietnam’s active participation in and contribution to the events have not only contributed to ensuring the country’s benefits, but also demonstrated its support to Cambodia’s decision at the meetings.
Concluding the conferences, the Cambodian Ministry of Defense thanked ASEAN member countries and its partners and emphasized that with support and active participation of member countries, the Cambodian Defense Ministry will successfully fulfill its role as the Chair of ADMM/ ADMM+ in 2022.
Translated by Tran Hoai