Hanoi (VNA) – A joint statement on defencecooperation against disease outbreaks issued at the ASEAN Defence Ministers’Meeting Retreat (ADMM Retreat) demonstrated the members’ responsiveness tonon-traditional security challenges, especially amid the spread of COVID-19that no country can singlehandedly deal with.

The comment was made by Maj. Gen. Vu Tien Trong,Director of the Institute for Defence International Relations under theVietnamese Ministry of National Defence, following the ADMM Retreat that tookplace in Hanoi on February 19.

Trong said the statement was high valued by notonly ASEAN countries but also the bloc’s partners in the ADMM Plus mechanism.Meanwhile, ASEAN Secretary-General Lim Jock Hoi said the statement was agreedon in a remarkably short space of time, less than two days.

This shows ASEAN defence ministers’ acumen andresponsiveness, thus meeting ASEAN people’s expectation that this epidemic willbe contained soon, Trong noted.

Lt. Gen. Vu Chien Thang, Director of the DefenceMinistry’s Department for External Relations, said the joint statement was aresult of Vietnam’s substantive contributions to the ADMM Retreat. 

Facing the COVID-19 outbreak, the ministry’sagencies have actively consulted with other countries about the statement. Inparticular, Singapore and Cambodia voiced their wish to co-sponsor theinitiative, he said.

At the meeting, participating countries spokehighly of Vietnam’s proposal on the ASEAN defence ministers’ joint statement ondefence cooperation against disease outbreaks, Thang said, adding that thedeclaration shows the ministers’ high consensus in promoting substantiveintra-bloc cooperation on the basis of ASEAN initiatives and mechanisms likethe ASEAN Centre of Military Medicine and a meeting of ASEAN chemical,biological and radiological defence experts.

This illustrates the responsiveness to emergingchallenges and also matches the theme “Cohesive and Responsive” for Vietnam’sASEAN Chairmanship in 2020, he said.

Also at the ADMM Retreat, the defence ministersonce again stressed the importance of mechanisms within the framework of ASEANdefence-military cooperation, especially the ADMM Plus that turns 10 this year,Thang said.

He added they underlined the significance ofASEAN cooperation in counter-terrorism, particularly via information sharing,along with the bloc’s solidarity and unanimity as superpowers compete formarine control in the region. The officials also highlighted the need for thesettlement of issues through peaceful means while supporting the building of asubstantive and effective code of conduct in the East Sea./.