Vietnamese Minster of Defense Phuong Quang Thanh will chair the fourth ASEAN Defense Ministers Meeting (ADMM-4) in Hanoi from May 10-13, announced the Defense Ministry on May 4.

VietNamNet Bridge – Vietnamese Minster of Defense Phuong Quang Thanh will chair the fourth ASEAN Defense Ministers Meeting (ADMM-4) in Hanoi from May 10-13, announced the Defense Ministry on May 4.

Lieut. Gen. Nguyen Tuan Dung, Deputy Director of the Vietnam People’s Army General Politics Department.

At a press briefing in Hanoi on May 4, Lieut. Gen. Nguyen Tuan Dung, Deputy Director of the Vietnam People’s Army General Politics Department, announced that the ADMM-4 will be held under the theme “Strengthening ASEAN defense cooperation for a region of stability and development”.

Defense Ministers and senior officials from the ten ASEAN member countries and a delegation of the ASEAN Secretariat will review recent developments of ASEAN cooperation, the results of the 7th ASEAN Chief of Defense Forces Informal Meeting (ACDFIM-7) held in Hanoi from March 24-27 and the 4th ASEAN Defense Senior Officials’ Meeting (ADSOM-4) also held in Hanoi from April 27-29.

They will exchange views on regional security and national defense policies of each country and passed documents on meetings between ASEAN and their partners’ defense ministers (ADMM +). They will also hear reports on the implementation of ideas and initiatives of ASEAN member countries.

General Nguyen Tan Dung said that the conflict in the East Sea will be reported to ASEAN Defense Ministers and they would decide whether this matter to be discussed at the meeting or not. However, the focus will be issues related to common defense and security situation in ASEAN, including non-traditional security.

ADMM+ is the latest idea about cooperation between ASEAN and its partners, including superpowers. ASEAN is maintaining the cooperation mechanism under the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia (TAC). This is the core rule of conduct among ASEAN countries.

At the 16^th ASEAN summit in Hanoi in early April, ASEAN chiefs of states stated that ADMM+ would help strengthen the current cooperation in security and defense between ASEAN and its partners.

The EU, Canada and Turkey are considering taking part in TAC.

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