Despite difficulties caused by complicated developments of the COVID-19 pandemic, Vietnam did its utmost and successfully held activities within the framework of the meetings, he told the Vietnam News Agency’s correspondents in Singapore on December 10.

The successful organisation of ADMM and ADMM Plus reflected ASEAN and its dialogue partners’ commitments to strengthen security and defence cooperation for regional peace and stability, and is a vivid illustration for Vietnam’s good leadership role.

Several important outcomes were attained at the meetings, particularly in the field of security threat response with the “Our Eyes” initiative which promote information sharing in anti-terrorism, he stressed.

He expressed his delight over the consensus among ASEAN member states and their partners in settling maritime tensions in the East Sea, saying they agreed that competent sides should accelerate negotiations for a Code of Conduct (COC) in the East Sea, and the COC must be based on international law, including the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

Regarding the role of the ADMM Plus after ten years of operation, Ng Eng Hen said it has become an important security mechanism in the region, and along with eight partner nations, namely Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand, the Republic of Korea, Russia and the US, many other nations have expressed their interest to engage in this mechanism./.

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