Deputy Defense Minister Senior Lieutenant General Nguyen Chi Vinh (C) delivers a speech at the video conference (Photo: The Defense Ministry)

A video conference featuring the ASEAN Regional Forum Defense Officials’ Dialogue (ARF DOD) in Hanoi on Wednesday was co-chaired by the delegations from Vietnam and the United States.

Addressing the event, Deputy Defense Minister Nguyen Chi Vinh highlighted the importance of the ASEAN Regional Forum. He said, “ARF is a cooperation mechanism chaired by diplomatic channels, in which defense and security cooperation plays an important role in the actual implementation of measures for trust building and preventive diplomacy. However, over the years, with the development of the ADMM+ cooperation structure and others, defense and security cooperation in the ARF has somewhat subsided. In 2020, as the Chairman of ASEAN and with a high appreciation of the ARF cooperation mechanism, the Ministry of Defense of Vietnam will strive to promote the effectiveness and strengthen this extremely important cooperation channel.”

Participants also discussed military medical co-operation and humanitarian assistance, disaster relief in response to epidemics, technical issues, and preparations for the agenda of the upcoming 17th ASEAN Regional Security Policy Conference.