(VOVworld) - The 7th East Sea International Conference, themed “Cooperation for Regional Security and Development”, opened in Vung Tau, Vietnam, on Monday.

More than 200 international scholars participate in the 2-day conference on the East Sea. (Photo: Trung Son)

More than 200 Vietnamese and foreign experts reviewed the situation in the East Sea and proposed ways to address conflicts while maintaining regional peace and stability.

Dang Dinh Quy, director of the Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam, said at the opening ceremony: "The most important thing is to gather leading experts on the East Sea to assess recent events with an interdisciplinary perspective and make recommendations to get the governments concerned to acknowledge their behaviors and keep conflicts from turning into wars which will harm the common development, because the East Sea has become important to all nations.”

Professor Carl Thayer (L), an expert on Southeast Asia, China, and East Sea from Australia’s Defense Institute, at the conference. (Photo: Trung Son/vnexpress)

 There will be a session at this year’s conference to evaluate developments in the world and their implications for the East Sea and a session on settlement, delimitation, and joint development in the East Sea.