A delegation of the Ministry of National Defence attended the virtual conferences of the ASEAN Defence Senior Officials’ Meeting Working Group (ADSOM WG) and the ADSOM-Plus WG on March 28 and 29.
The Vietnamese delegation was led by Col. Pham Manh Thang, Deputy Director of the Defence Ministry’s External Relations Department, the Quan doi Nhan dan (People’s Army) daily reported.
The events, chaired by Cambodia, continued to discuss the issues that were not scrutinised at the ADSOM WG and ADSOM-Plus WG meetings held in Phnom Penh in February.
The ADSOM WG session looked into draft documents proposed by Cambodia, including a concept document on enhancing cooperation in transboundary disease control among ASEAN countries’ defence forces, a concept document on increasing the support mechanism for ASEAN servicewomen to take part in peacekeeping operations, and another on the establishment of cooperative ties among ASEAN defence academies.
This meeting gave opinions on the draft Phnom Penh Vision on the role of ASEAN defence agencies in assisting with post-pandemic recovery, along with the draft joint statements of the ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting (ADMM) and the ADMM-Plus. It also considered the organisation of informal meetings between defence ministers of ASEAN and Plus countries in 2022.
Participants reviewed the preparations for the ADSOM and ADSOM-Plus meetings that will be held in person in Siem Reap, Cambodia, from May 16 to 18. Some countries also reported on issues related to their initiatives.
Meanwhile, the ADSOM-Plus WG meeting provided updates about the work plans of the ADMM-Plus experts’ working groups for 2021 - 2023.
Representing the ADMM-Plus experts’ working group on peacekeeping that is co-chaired by Vietnam and Japan, Vietnamese and Japanese delegates talked about the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) initiative, based on the UN Security Council’s WPS agenda.
Basing on the ADSOM WG meeting’s outcomes, the ADSOM-Plus WG conference also discussed the draft joint statement of the ADMM Plus and preparations for the ADSOM-Plus./.
VNA
