This was emphasized by Senior Lieutenant General Nguyen Khac Nghien, Chief of the General Staff of the Vietnam People's Army and Deputy Minister of Defence at the 7^th ASEAN Chief of Defense Forces Informal Meeting (ACDFIM-7) which opened in Hanoi on March 25.

During the meeting, participants will explore co-operative military responses to non-traditional security threats.

Mr Nghien said Vietnam is eager to share experience and closely co-operate with other armies in the region.

To meet new demands, ASEAN armies need to establish close links, share information and learn to carry out joint operations, Mr Nghien insisted. In addition to organising dialogues, building trust, and sharing experience, ASEAN countries coordinate their efforts in search and rescue, humanitarian aid and disaster relief, he said.

At the conference, leaders of ASEAN defence ministries will present initiatives to strengthen co-operation among ASEAN armies with a focus on confronting non-traditional security threats, such as natural disasters and epidemics and climate change.

Before the opening ceremony, attendees laid wreaths at the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum.

*** On the afternoon of March 25, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung met with leaders of ASEAN defence ministries who attended the ACDFIM-7.

PM Dung highly praised the meeting, which will contribute to building an ASEAN community with three pillars: political security, economic, and socio-cultural affairs. He emphasized that in the process of building political security, ASEAN countries face some urgent issues, including terrorism, piracy, climate change, natural disasters and epidemics. Such issues cannot be solved by one country alone and needs close co-operation among countries in the region and support from the international community, Mr Dung said.

Mr Dung welcomed the initiatives proposed by leaders of ASEAN defence ministries at the conference to improve joint operations by ASEAN armies to seal with non-traditional security threats. He hoped that following the meeting, ASEAN countries would effectively implement all agreements and plans and expand their co-operation with other countries in the region and around the world.