ASEAN Defense Ministers Meeting opens in Malaysia

On the morning of March 16, the 9th ASEAN Defense Ministers' Meeting (ADMM-9) officially opened in Langkawi, Kedah state of Malaysia.

Overview of the ADMM-9 Conference. (Photo: Kim Dung-Chi Giap/Vietnam+)

Attending the conference were delegations from 10 member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and ASEAN Secretary General Le Luong Minh.

The high-ranking Vietnamese military delegation was led by General Phung Quang Thanh, Politburo member and Minister of National Defense.

Defense Minister Phung Quang Thanh (right) at the Conference. (Photo: Kim Dung-Chi Giap/Vietnam+)

At the conference, delegates focused on discussing issues of regional security, traditional and non-traditional security that have an impact on regional security.

The Ministers also shared and discussed issues related to the threat from the self-proclaimed Islamic State (IS), cyber security, high-tech development security, maritime security, especially anti-piracy in the East Sea, and effective cooperation and coordination mechanisms for natural disaster prevention.

The initiative of the host country Malaysia on establishing an ASEAN peacekeeping force was also discussed by delegates at the conference. This initiative is receiving support from many ASEAN countries.

At this conference, Vietnam proposed to summarize and evaluate and draw lessons from the ADMM's experience over the past decade and build a complete mechanism as well as orientation for the ADMM's activities in the future./.

According to VNA