They wished that defence ties between ASEAN and the RoK will become moreeffective and practical, making active contributions to peace and stability inthe region.
At the event, Vietnamese Deputy Defence Minister, Sen. Lieut. Gen Nguyen ChiVinh, affirmed that the policy offers both sides a chance to fostercomprehensive cooperation, including in national defence.
He sharedthe same view as attending delegates that the meeting mechanism will help realisethe policy, thus bringing huge benefits to both the RoK and ASEAN.
Vinh also askedthe RoK to pay greater attention to major areas of the ASEAN Defence Ministers’Meeting Plus (ADMM ) mechanism, such as maintaining peace and maritimesecurity.
RoK DeputyDefence Minister Suh Choo-suk stressed that ASEAN is a top priority in the New SouthernPolicy, adding that the RoK is looking for cooperation on the basis ofrespecting consensus and ASEAN’s central role.
Hesuggested expanding high-level collaboration on the basis of common interestand jointly coping with traditional and non-traditional security challenges.
The hostexpressed wishes to establish mechanisms to foster coordination with each ASEANmember state, such as holding annual high-level meetings and meetings ofleaders in logistics, armed services, defence industry, intelligence services,and holding defence cooperation agreements.
He hopedfor deeper collaboration with ASEAN within the framework of working groups of theADMM mechanism in the fields of maritime security, anti-terrorism, cybersecurity, and military medicine.–VNA