The ASEAN defence senior officials' meeting plus dialogue partners was held in Phnom Penh on Feb. 23 to strengthen security cooperation and peace in the region.
Delivering the opening speech, Lt. Gen. Nem Sowath, director general of the Cambodian Defence Ministry's Policy and Foreign Affairs Department said the meeting aims to expand security and defence cooperation in the fields of maritime security, peacekeeping, anti-terrorism, humanitarian assistance in disaster relief, and military medicine.
He added that cooperation between ASEAN and its dialogue partners plays an important role in maintaining peace and security in the whole region.
Participants discussed the draft Concept Paper on Review of Frequency of ASEAN Defence Ministers' Meeting-Plus (ADMM-Plus) which proposes convening the ADMM-Plus meeting once every two years instead of three years.
Participants included senior defence officials of ASEAN and its dialogue partners of the United States , Russia , China , Japan , India , the Republic of Korea , Australia and New Zealand .
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) was established in 1967. It groups Brunei , Cambodia , Indonesia , Laos , Malaysia , Myanmar , the Philippines , Singapore , Thailand and Vietnam . /.
(VNA)
