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South-East Asia's top brass reaffirm military ties in Laos

Xinhua, March 14, 2016 Adjust font size:

Natural and man-made disasters, climate change, trafficking, terrorism, cyber, maritime and other non-traditional security challenges were among key focus areas as top-ranked military personnel from across South-East Asia met for the 13th ASEAN Chiefs of Defence Forces Informal Meeting in the Lao capital on Monday.

A joint statement was issued by top defense force personnel representing 10 South-East Asian nations as they met to reaffirm military-to-military cooperation across the region, the first such high-level gathering since the inception of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) at the end of 2015.

The statement reaffirmed the need to"fully and effectively implement the 2002 Declaration of the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea and work towards the early conclusion of the Code of Conduct in the South China Sea."

The 10 nations agreed to explore the"feasibility of a multilateral information-sharing portal among ASEAN military intelligence organizations"under the ASEAN Militaries Analyst-to-Analyst Intelligence Exchange (AMAAIE).

In his opening remarks, Lao People's Army Chief of General Staff Major-General Souvone Leuangbounmy stressed the need for collaboration"in order to enhance readiness to better respond to current and future traditional and non-traditional threats and challenges."

"Collaboration for peace, security, stability and development of the region is imperative and is consistent with the wishes of the people in our region,"Major-General Souvone said.

The 13th ASEAN Chiefs of Defence Forces Informal Meeting is one of the multi-sectoral meetings being hosted by Laos as per its 2016 chairmanship of the Association of South-East Asian (ASEAN) grouping. Endit