The fourth meeting of defense ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) was held in Hanoi on Tuesday under the theme of "Strengthening ASEAN Defense Cooperation for a Stability and Development of the Region."

At the meeting, participants completed important legal bases, allowing ASEAN to actively widen its defense and security cooperation with the region and the world through the ASEAN Defense Ministers' Meeting-Plus (ADMM-Plus) process, said Vietnamese Defense Minister Phung Quang Thanh.

Specifically, ministers approved two documents namely "ADMM- Plus: Structure and Participants", and "ADMM-Plus: Protocol and Procedure" for the establishment of the ADMM- Plus, he said.

Thanh said at the meeting that ASEAN's security is closely linked to security in the Asia-Pacific as well as in the globe. Cooperation between ASEAN and its dialogue partners is of great importance and an urgent requirement to ensure that every ASEAN member can live in an environment of peace, stability and sustainable development.

An ADMM- Plus can be considered as a supplement to the increasing improvement of regional security cooperation mechanism, in which ADMM always plays a focal role, said Thanh.

Participants expressed their support for Vietnam to host the first meeting between ASEAN defense ministers and their counterparts of ASEAN's dialogue partners in October this year.

At the meeting, delegates also exchanged views on security issues of the region and the world, according to Thanh.

Ministers held that it is required now for countries to boost closer and more effective cooperation in defense and security areas, especially in the response to transnational non-traditional security challenges, he said.

The meeting concluded with a joint statement signed by ministers to promote defense and security cooperation in the association.

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