Senior defence officials from Japan and ASEAN member nations gathered in Okinawa, Japan from February 17-19 for the 5th Japan-ASEAN deputy-ministerial defence cooperation forum to discuss plans for building future defence ability to deal with non-traditional security issues.

Overview of the 5th Japan-ASEAN deputy-ministerial defence cooperation forum. (Photo: qdnd.vn)

Vietnam’s delegation led by Deputy Minister of Defence Senior Lieutenant General Nguyen Chi Vinh attended the event, which was presided over by Japanese Deputy Minister of Defence Masanori Nishi.

At the forum, representatives from ASEAN’s member nations praised the role played by the host in developing specific programmes and projects to support its ASEAN partners in building their military and defence capacity to cope with non-traditional security issues caused by climate change as well as high-tech crimes.

ASEAN nations and Japan have cooperated effectively in the framework of ASEAN Defence Ministers Meeting Plus (ADMM+), especially in their recent joint exercises on humanitarian aid and relief in Brunei, Vietnam and other regional countries.

In his message sent to the forum, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has underlined the significance of the ASEAN-Japan defence cooperation in maintaining peace, development and prosperity in the region.

He reaffirmed the cooperation policy between the two sides in all-round aspects, especially in defence, saying that the forum marked a new step of development in the partnership between Japan and ASEAN over the past 40 years.

ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Japan and ASEAN held the summit meeting in December in Tokyo to commemorate the 40th anniversary of friendship.

Source: qdnd.vn/ VNA