The ASEAN Defence Senior Officials’ Meeting Working Group was held via video conference on Monday. — VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI — The ASEAN Defence Senior Officials’ Meeting Working Group (ADSOM WG) was held via video conference on Monday to promote defence cooperation among member states.

The meeting was organised under the Chair of Lieutenant General Vũ Chiến Thắng, Director of the Defence Ministry’s Foreign Relations Department and head of Việt Nam’s ADSOM WG.

Heads and representatives from the ASEAN Secretariat were updated on defence cooperation process since the last online meeting in May, and discussed documents and the new-standard operating process of the ASEAN Defence Ministers Meeting (ADMM) as well as draft joint statements of the 14th ADMM and the seventh ADMM Plus, scheduled to go online in December.

Preparation work for ADSOM on Tuesday, ADSOM Plus WG on Wednesday, and ADSOM Plus on Thursday was also tabled at the meeting.

Expressing an interest in strengthening cooperation between defence experts in the field of chemistry, the Singaporean representative recommended ASEAN member states create an effective channel to stand ready for emergency circumstances like COVID-19.

The representative said that along with ongoing studies of a COVID-19 vaccine, Singapore organised an online conference on infectious diseases in June and a workshop to improve testing capacity and specimen transport in November, attracting biology and chemistry experts from ASEAN member states.

Meanwhile, the Thai representative said Thailand held a conference in August on increasing the role of ASEAN defence organisations in supporting border management with the participation of the representatives from the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, ASEAN defence ministries, and ASEAN defence attaches in Bangkok.

The representative said it was necessary to understand each other’s border management models in order to cooperate and share experience in border protection and transnational crime prevention. — VNS