ASEAN air-force commanders meet in Hanoi

Vietnam’s armed force strongly support its air and air defense force playing an active role in all bilateral and multilateral military cooperation within the ASEAN framework, including between ASEAN and other outside partners, to maintain peace and sustainable development in Southeast Asia.

This was stated by Deputy Defense Minister Lieutenant General Nguyen Chi Vinh in his speech to the seventh ASEAN Air force Commanders’ Conference (AACC-7), which opened in Hanoi on Friday.

Cooperation between ASEAN member countries has been expanded to cover every field to meet each country’s socio-economic development needs. Vinh stressed that cooperation in defense and military matters has helped to create confidence and reinforce unity within the group.

He confirmed that that defense-military cooperation is entering a new phase and is looking for more practical ways of dealing with security challenges, particularly newly-arising non-traditional cross-border issues.

On addressing the event, the commander of Vietnam’s air and air defense force, Lieutenant General Le Huu Duc, commented that there is a lot of potential for ASEAN air forces to work together or share their experiences and specialized skills in various areas.

He noted that ASEAN air forces should consider boosting cooperation in specialized areas, such as flight safety, search and rescue activities and humanitarian and natural disaster relief missions.

More cooperation between ASEAN air forces will enhance and bolster ASEAN’s defense-military ties towards the establishment of the ASEAN Politics-Security Community by 2015, stressed Duc.

At the conference, the Vietnam air and air defense force proposed organizing exchanges between young ASEAN air force officers to promote solidarity, friendship and mutual understanding and to work out specific joint activities in the future.