On September 25, the ASEAN Defense Senior Officials Meeting (ADSOM) took place in Vientiane, Laos with the participation of 10 ASEAN member countries, the ASEAN Secretariat and Timor Leste, under the chairmanship of the Lao Chair. The Vietnamese Ministry of National Defense delegation was led by Senior Lieutenant General Hoang Xuan Chien, member of the Party Central Committee and Deputy Minister of National Defense.
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| Senior Lieutenant General Hoang Xuan Chien at the ASEAN Defense Senior Officials Meeting (ADSOM). – Photo: QĐND |
Speaking at the opening of the conference, Lieutenant General Somphone Mittaphone, Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Lao People's Army and Head of the Lao delegation, highly appreciated the support of ASEAN member countries for Laos as Chair in 2024; at the same time, he said that the general theme of 2024 "ASEAN: Strengthening Connectivity and Resilience" as well as the theme of Laos's Chairmanship of the ASEAN Defense Ministers' Meeting (ADMM) and the ASEAN Defense Ministers' Meeting Plus (ADMM+) in 2024: "ASEAN: Together for Peace, Security and Resilience" emphasize Laos' commitment to promoting peace and security in the region.
At the conference, the Heads of Delegations shared with Vietnam, Laos, the Philippines, Thailand, and Myanmar about the losses caused by Typhoon Yagi, hoping that the countries will soon overcome the consequences of this historic storm.
The conference heard reports on the results of the ASEAN Senior Defense Officials' Working Group (ADSOM WG), the 17th Annual Meeting of the Network of ASEAN Defense and Security Institutes (NADI-17) and the 21st ASEAN Chiefs of Defense Forces Meeting (ACDFM-21); updated progress and assessed ASEAN defense cooperation...
Currently, Vietnam is undertaking the initiative of Placing the ASEAN Flag next to the national flag at military units of ASEAN member countries participating in UN peacekeeping operations. In May 2023, the Vietnamese Ministry of National Defense hosted a workshop to implement the Guidelines for this initiative.
Regarding the ASEAN Military/Defense Intelligence Community (AMIC) Initiative proposed by Vietnam and approved at ACDFM, speaking at the conference, Senior Lieutenant General Hoang Xuan Chien, Head of the Vietnam ADSOM Delegation, said that Vietnam will organize the first ASEAN Military/Defense Intelligence Community Leaders' Conference in Hanoi in November 2024 to specifically implement the above initiative; hoping that ASEAN countries will support participation in this conference.
At the conference, the Heads of ASEAN delegations also approved and agreed to submit to ADMM new initiative documents, including the draft Appendix to the Concept Document on harmonizing ADMM and ADMM+ initiatives (Vietnam plays the role of contact point in the field of defense education and training).
The meeting also reached consensus on the draft ADMM Joint Statement and agreed to add the standard operating procedure of the ASEAN Military Standing Group on Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief to the appendix of Chapter VI of the Standard Operating Procedure on Contingency Arrangements and Coordination of Disaster Relief and Emergency Response in the Region; discussed preparations for the ASEAN Defense Senior Officials Meeting Plus (ADSOM+), ADMM and ADMM+, as well as the Observer Program for the 2024-2027 period.
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| Senior Lieutenant General Hoang Xuan Chien and Heads of ASEAN delegations at ADSOM. – Photo: QĐND |
On the sidelines of ADSOM, Senior Lieutenant General Hoang Xuan Chien had bilateral meetings with Senior Lieutenant General Vongkham Phommakone, Deputy Minister of National Defense of Laos; Lieutenant General Somphone Mittaphone, Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Lao People's Army, Head of ADSOM Laos and bilateral meetings with the Heads of the Singapore, Philippines and Indonesia delegations.
At the meeting with Senior Lieutenant General Vongkham Phommakone, Senior Lieutenant General Hoang Xuan Chien and Senior Lieutenant General Vongkham Phommakone shared about the heavy damage caused by Typhoon Yagi to the two countries; emphasizing that currently, the Army is one of the pioneering forces in overcoming the consequences of the storm, supporting people to stabilize their lives.
The two sides highly appreciated the results of defense cooperation between Vietnam and Laos in recent times. These results have actively contributed to maintaining peace, stability and development in each country, consolidating and further tightening the special friendship and comprehensive cooperation between the two Parties, States and Armies of Vietnam and Laos.
In the coming time, the two sides agreed to continue to closely coordinate, fully and effectively implement the contents of the 2024 Cooperation Plan. In particular, focusing on areas such as increasing contacts and exchanges of delegations at all levels; continuing to effectively maintain current bilateral defense cooperation mechanisms such as: Defense policy dialogue at the Deputy Minister level, cooperation between border protection forces; training and coaching of cadres; promoting cooperation in Party work, political work, etc.
Senior Lieutenant General Hoang Xuan Chien and Senior Lieutenant General Vongkham Phommakone also discussed preparations for the 2nd Vietnam-Laos Border Defense Friendship Exchange, scheduled to take place next October.
Emphasizing that this is an important political event, contributing to promoting cooperation between border protection forces, people-to-people exchanges, and twinning on the border, helping the people of Vietnam and Laos have more opportunities for cultural exchange, economic cooperation, sharing production experience, and strengthening solidarity and friendship, Senior Lieutenant General Hoang Xuan Chien and Senior Lieutenant General Vongkham Phommakone affirmed that the Ministry of National Defense, local leaders and people on both sides of the border where the exchange takes place are actively preparing carefully, ensuring the success of the Exchange. Senior Lieutenant General Hoang Xuan Chien hopes that the Lao Ministry of National Defense will continue to pay attention to and direct Lao agencies and units to overcome difficulties caused by the recent storm Yagi; and do a good job of preparing for the Exchange.
Previously, Senior Lieutenant General Hoang Xuan Chien had a bilateral meeting with Lieutenant General Somphone Mittaphone, Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Lao People's Army, Head of the Lao ADSOM Delegation to discuss promoting and implementing important contents related to bilateral defense relations; important events related to defense and security such as multilateral and bilateral forums and conferences. Senior Lieutenant General Hoang Xuan Chien affirmed that Vietnam fully supports Laos in successfully assuming the role of ASEAN Chair 2024 and will send a delegation to attend ADMM and ADMM+ at the highest level.
Also on the sidelines of ADSOM, Senior Lieutenant General Hoang Xuan Chien had bilateral meetings with the Heads of Delegations from Indonesia, Singapore, and the Philippines to promote and implement bilateral defense cooperation contents; coordinate to strengthen solidarity, unity, and cooperation within ASEAN and promote ASEAN's central role in the region as well as in the world.
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