The 12th meeting of ASEAN Regional Forum Experts and Eminent Persons (ARF EEPs) convened in Hanoi on March 6 under the chair of Vietnam and Japan.

Scene at the meeting

The two-day annual meeting discussed regional security and emerging challenges, thus putting forth policy recommendations to the upcoming ARF Ministerial Meeting.

In his opening remark at the meeting, Vietnamese Deputy Foreign Minister Nguyen Quoc Dung said the event took place at a time when the region is being deeply impacted by the power-shifting process, policy changes undertaken by big countries, and more traditional and nontraditional security risks.

Cooperation among ARF member countries, including the group of EEPs, plays an important role in addressing these impacts, he said, noting that the EEPs group has submitted several pieces of valuable advice, contributing to promoting preventive diplomacy in Asia-Pacific to maintain peace and stability and shaping the rule-based regional security architecture to be led by ASEAN and other ASEAN-led forums.

Agenda of this year’s meeting focused on preventive diplomacy within the ARF’s framework, opportunities and challenges to preventive diplomacy in the future, and major security issues in the region, including those related to maritime and cyber security.-VNA