Defense Minister General Phung Quang Thanh. Photo: VNA
(VOVworld) - ASEAN’s Defense Ministers have approved a 3-year Work Plan for 2014 to 2016 and issued a joint statement on defense cooperation towards a peaceful and prosperous ASEAN community. Agreement was reached on Tuesday at the on-going 8th ASEAN Defense Ministers Meeting (ADMM) in Myanmar’s capital Nay Pyi Taw. The Ministers voiced their support for the 24th ASEAN Summit outcomes and the Nay Pyi Taw Declaration, which call for cooperation in ensuring full implementation of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC) and the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). The Ministers reiterated the group’s commitment to reinforce defense cooperation towards the establishment of an ASEAN Community by 2015. They suggested measures to build trust, including creating more hotlines and collecting commitments not to use force between ASEAN countries. Defense Minister General Phung Quang Thanh is leading the Vietnamese delegation to the ADMM in Myanmar from May 19-21.