Hanoi (VNA) – ASEAN still has to face a numberof challenges, and to cope with them, the association should continue enhancingintra-bloc cohesion to create consensus and collective strength to stayresponsive to external factors, Defence Minister Gen. Ngo Xuan Lich has said.

The Vietnamese minister made the remark whileaddressing the ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting Retreat (ADMM Retreat) in Hanoion February 19.

The event, attended by officials of ASEANcountries and Secretary-General of the bloc Lim Jock Hoi, aimed to set uporientations for ASEAN cooperation in 2020 and prepare for the ADMM and ADMMPlus later this year. Participants also issued a joint statement on defencecooperation against disease outbreaks.

Speaking at the meeting, Minister Lich saidsince its first edition held in Malaysia in 2006, the ADMM has increasinglyestablished itself as an effective cooperation and dialogue mechanism onstrategy, defence and security issues at the defence ministerial level. It hasalso formed a foundation for promoting substantive cooperation initiatives inmultiple spheres, especially non-traditional security issues relevant tomilitary medicine, humanitarian aid and disaster relief, thereby helping tobuild trust and deepen mutual understanding among countries.

This is also a basis for creating new defencedialogue and cooperation mechanisms between ASEAN and partners, with the ADMMPlus and ADMM playing the central role, he noted.

The official held that ASEAN still has to face anumber of challenges, including superpowers’ competition in the region,challenges related to marine security like the East Sea issue, andnon-traditional security problems.

He added the outbreak and fast spread of theacute respiratory disease caused by the 2019 novel coronavirus (COVID-19) haveposed a common challenge to the whole region and the world. 

Aside from well-founded concerns about theseriousness of COVID-19, the spread of unverified information about thisdisease on social networks has also triggered negative response and anxiety inthe public. False information on social media has also become a challenge thatcountries must join hands to deal with, according to him.

Minister Lich affirmed Vietnam’s sense ofresponsibility towards effectively responding to COVID-19 to ensure healthsecurity for the meeting and other activities during 2020, when the countryholds the ASEAN chairmanship.

As chair of the ASEAN Centre of MilitaryMedicine Board of Directors in 2020, Vietnam suggested the member countriesorganise a disease outbreak response drill, he said, adding that Brunei andAustralia, as co-chairs of the ADMM-Plus Experts' WorkingGroup on Military Medicine during 2020-2023, are encouraged toinclude the response to disease outbreaks in field exercises in the workinggroup’s three-year working programme.

Vietnam also called for the partners in the ADMMPlus mechanism to enhance cooperation in raising the response capacity of ASEANcountries’ military medicine forces, especially in responding to diseaseoutbreaks, the minister said./.