Antony to visit Vietnam to attend ASEAN Defence Ministers meeting

NEW DELHI - As part of India’s Look -East Policy and with the objective of integration with the other regions, Defence Minister AK Antony will undertake a visit to Vietnam on Sunday to attend the ASEAN Defence Ministers Meeting (ADMM)-Plus to be held at Hanoi next week.

During his four-day visit, Antony will be accompanied by a high level delegation including Defence Secretary Pradeep Kumar and representatives of the Services.

During the fourth ASEAN Defence Ministers Meeting held in May, the ASEAN Defence Ministers agreed to establish an ADMM-Plus forum comprising the ten ASEAN countries and eight non-ASEAN countries namely, Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand. Republic of Korea, Russia and the United States.

ADMM-Plus seeks to address the regional peace and security challenges by providing a balanced and inclusive security architecture for the region as a whole and provide opportunities to build mutual trust and confidence among the defence establishments of the ASEAN and the Plus countries.

On the sidelines of the ADMM-Plus, Antony will also have bilateral meetings with the Defence Ministers of other countries.

The Defence Minister’s visit to Vietnam will also be an opportunity for a series of bilateral meetings with the Vietnamese Defence Minister Gen Phung Quang Thanh and other Vietnamese leaders for discussion on issues of mutual interest.

Antony had earlier in December 2007 toured Vietnam on a bilateral visit, which was followed by the visit of the Vietnamese Defence Minister to India in November 2009.

Antony will return to New Delhi on Wednesday. (ANI)