11th ASEAN Military Operations Meeting held online

The Vietnamese delegation at the meeting (Source: qdnd.vn)

The 11th ASEAN Military Operations Meeting (AMOM-11) was held via videoconference on March 10 under the chair of Brigadier General Haji Abdul Razak bin Haji Abd, Joint Force Commander of the Royal Brunei Armed Forces.

Major General Nguyen Duc Can, Director of the Operations Department under the General Staff of the Vietnam People’s Army, led the Vietnamese delegation to attend the event.

At the meeting, ASEAN military operations chiefs exchanged views on the regional and global security situation, especially traditional and non-traditional security challenges that are directly affecting the ASEAN region.

They reviewed the outcomes of and set out orientations for cooperation among ASEAN armies, including their operations forces, in the time ahead.

The officers also discussed the updating of the ASEAN armies' work plan for 2021-2022, which was adopted in 2020 when Vietnam took over the role as ASEAN Chair.

Addressing the meeting, Can stressed that amid complex developments of the COVID-19 pandemic, non-traditional security challenges remain a permanent factor of uncertainty, requiring countries enhance ties in sharing information, controlling borders, and coordinating activities of operations agencies.

As the bodies in charge of planning military activities, the operations departments of ASEAN armies should prioritise the maintenance of their central role in building trust among the ASEAN armies while reinforcing practical and effective cooperation via joint activities, he suggested.

Can added that Vietnam supports the draft update to the work plan for 2021-2022, which will be submitted to the 18th ASEAN Chiefs of Defence Forces’ Meeting (ACDFM-18) for approval.

Concluding the meeting, the chairmanship of the AMOM-12 was handed over to Cambodia, which will be Chair of ASEAN in 2022./.