ASEAN Defense Ministers Meet in Hanoi, Vietnam

Hanoi, MINA – Secretary General of the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Indonesia Dr. Agus Setiadji representing the Minister of Defense led the Indonesian Delegation to attend the ASEAN Defense Ministers’ Meeting (ADMM) Retreat on Wednesday, February 19 in Hanoi, Vietnam.

The ADMM Retreat meeting discussed “Regional and International Security Issues of Common Interest” and was attended by officials of the Minister of Defense or representing 10 ASEAN Member Countries namely Vietnam as host, Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand.

During the ADMM Retreat meeting, Agus reiterated Indonesia’s commitment to support the ADMM framework. The ADMM Retreat meeting is expected to be a forum for sharing and exchanging views on regional and international security issues in the context of realizing the stability and prosperity of the ASEAN region and people.

“The ADMM Retreat forum is expected to produce benefits for ASEAN defense cooperation in the future. Building mutual trust and understanding and commitment to achieve common goals will be a strong foundation in building resilience and strong territory,” said the Secretary General.

On this occasion, Agus further expressed his deep concern related to the Coronavirus outbreak which had wide-ranging impact and became a global problem.

“In the midst of the epidemic, I would like to express my condolences to the victims from ASEAN member countries,” said the Secretary General.

The spread of this virus makes several ASEAN member countries take preventive steps by temporarily stopping flights from or to China including Indonesia.

This month, Indonesia has evacuated 238 Indonesian citizens from Wuhan, which is the area hardest hit by the spread of the Corona virus, to avoid being infected by the virus.

Before the Coronavirus became an epidemic, the international community was also attacked by several epidemic diseases such as the Bird Flu (H5N1) virus which shocked the world in the mid-2000s, before that the SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) virus, which also had an epidemic in late 2002 and the virus MERS (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome) in 2012 which was first detected in Saudi Arabia.

For this reason, it is important for ASEAN member countries to increase their resilience to all forms of biological threats that can endanger and threaten the safety of the ASEAN community.

“This problem requires special attention and concrete action. Hopefully the affected countries can be overcome and we can prevent the spread of the virus, Indonesia is ready to provide assistance if needed,” added the Secretary General. (T/RE1)

Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)