Commander-in-Chief of Defence Services Senior General Min Aung Hlaing attended the 16th ASEAN Chiefs of Defence Forces Meeting held at the Royal Cliff Hotel, Pattaya, Thailand yesterday.
The meeting was attended by Tatmadaw Commander-in-Chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing and party and ASEAN Chiefs of Defence Forces and parties. At the meeting, the meeting chair Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Thai Armed Forces (RTAF) General Ponpipat Benyasri first delivered an opening speech and posed for commemorative group photo with ASEAN Chiefs of Defence Forces. Later the ASEAN Chiefs of Defence Forces watched the video record of the informal16th ACDFM meeting.
Next the outcomes of the 16th ASEAN Military Intelligence Informal Meeting and 9th ASEAN Military Operations Informal Meeting were addressed by Lt-Gen Natathapol Boonngam, Chief of RTAF Directorate of Joint Intelligence and Lt-Gen Suphot Malaniyom, RTAF Director of Joint Operations respectively.
Afterwards, meeting chair Commander-in-Chief of RTAF General Ponpipat Benyasri led the ASEAN Chiefs of Defence Forces in a country-wise discussion in alphabetical order where Tatmadaw Commander-in-Chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing discussed about “Responding to terrorism for sustainable security of ASEAN.”
Later Tatmadaw Commander-in-Chief, wife and party attended a luncheon hosted by RTAF Commander-in-Chief.
After the luncheon the second part of the meeting was continued where the two-year work program of ASEAN armed forces for 2018-2019 was discussed and the joint declaration of 16th ACDFM was signed. Commander-in-Chief of RTAF then delivered a closing speech and handed over the role of the 17th ACDFM Chair to Chief of the General Staff of the Viet Nam People’s Army Senior Lt-Gen Phan Van Giang.
The meeting came to a close after the Chief of the General Staff of the Viet Nam People’s Army delivered an acceptance speech.
After the meeting Tatmadaw Commander-in-Chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing met separately with Malaysia Armed Forces Chief of Defence Forces General Tan Sri Dato Seri Panglima Hj Zulkifli Bin Hj Zainal Abidin, Chief of the General Staff of the Viet Nam People’s Army Senior Lt-Gen Phan Van Giang and Deputy Defence Minister of the People’s Republic of Laos and Chief of Staff of the Lao People’s Army Lt-Gen Souvone Leuangbounmy.
During the meetings further enhancing the friendship between the militaries, cooperating in training, and exchanging rank wise friendly visits were discussed according to the news from the Office of the Commander-in-Chief of Defence Services.
— MNA
(Translated by Zaw Min)
