Vietnam reinforces military cooperation at 26th ASEAN Army Chiefs Meeting
VOV.VN - Vietnam People’s Army (VPA) senior delegation, led by Lieutenant General Nguyen Van Nghia, Deputy Chief of General Staff, attended the 26th ASEAN Chiefs of Army Multilateral Meeting (ACAMM-26) in Singapore from November 25 to 28, as well as the closing ceremony of the 33rd ASEAN Armies Rifle Meet (AARM-33), following an invitation from Major General Cai Dexian, Chief of Army of Singapore.
Under the theme “Building Regional Cooperation in Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief,” ACAMM-26 brought together army chiefs from 10 ASEAN member states to exchange measures for joint responses to climate change, natural disasters, and civil-military cooperation in humanitarian and disaster relief operations.
The meeting highlighted that humanitarian support and disaster relief are a shared responsibility of ASEAN armies, contributing to a peaceful, stable, cooperative, and developed region. A thematic joint declaration on “Building Regional Cooperation in Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief” was adopted.
At the meeting, Lieutenant General Nguyen Van Nghia applauded the relevance of the ACAMM-26 theme amid increasingly complex and unpredictable natural disasters such as storms, floods, landslides, and inundation, which cause severe human and material losses.
He emphasized that armies are the first responders in disaster prevention, humanitarian support, and relief operations. The Vietnamese delegation shared the VPA’s experience in disaster response, underlining that humanitarian relief is a universal expression of compassion and moral duty, and a solemn, unspoken mandate for ASEAN armies.
He laid stress on the need for ASEAN armies to continue exchanging experience in climate change adaptation and disaster prevention, enhance comprehensive response capacity, and maximize existing ASEAN multilateral and inter-agency cooperation mechanisms to reinforce regional solidarity and realize the “One ASEAN, One Response” vision.
Lieutenant General Nguyen Van Nghia reaffirmed that as a responsible member of the international community and ASEAN, the VPA remains committed to actively participating in cooperative activities among ASEAN armies, particularly in boosting army collaboration to effectively deal with emerging challenges, thus ensuring peace, stability, and sustainable development in the region.
During the meeting, the Vietnamese delegation held bilateral talks with counterparts from Singapore, Thailand, and Brunei, and engaged in side discussions with ASEAN army chiefs on measures to promote army cooperation.
All parties recognized Vietnam’s role and contributions and expressed a desire to ramp up cooperation in high-level exchanges, training, cyber security, humanitarian assistance, disaster relief, and support for joint activities suited to each country’s needs and capacity.
At the closing ceremony of AARM-33, Lieutenant General Nguyen Van Nghia met and congratulated the VPA athletes for their outstanding performance, winning a total of 32 medals, including 12 gold.
ASEAN army chiefs gather in Indonesia
The 20th ASEAN Chiefs of Army Multilateral Meeting (ACAMM) was held in Bandung city, Indonesia’s West Java province, on November 25.
