ASEAN senior defence officials discuss cooperation in online meeting

ASEAN Secretary General Lim Jock Hoi delivers his speech at the ASEAN Secretariat in Jakarta, Indonesia, 10 January 2020 (Photo: Reuters/Ajeng Dinar Ulfiana). Sketched by the Pan Pacific Agency.

HANOI, May 15, 2020, VNA. An online ASEAN Defence Senior Officials’ Meeting (ADSOM) was held on May 15 under the chair of Vietnam’s Deputy Defence Minister Sen. Lt. Gen. Nguyen Chi Vinh, Vietnam News Agency reported.

The meeting aimed to promote defence cooperation among the 10 ASEAN member states, promote Vietnam’s role as the Chair of ASEAN in 2020, implement the outcomes of the Special ASEAN Summit and Special ASEAN Plus Three Summit on COVID-19 Response, and the joint statement on defence cooperation in disease response adopted at the ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting Retreat.

Addressing the event, Vinh stressed that the COVID-19 has become a global challenge seriously affecting all ASEAN member states in general and the ASEAN 2020 Agenda in particular.

Vietnam shares these difficulties and losses with other ASEAN countries, he said, appreciating their efforts in the fight against the pandemic.

The Vietnamese officer also spoke of the outcomes of the ASEAN Defence Senior Officials’ Meeting Working Group on May 12.

He asked participants to review the ASEAN defence collaboration in COVID-19 prevention and control, exchange opinions on the regional security situation, and make proposals to improve defence cooperation among the ASEAN member states.

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