Defence officials from members of the ASEAN Regional Forum, Asia’s largest security grouping led by ASEAN, met in Seoul, the Republic of Korea, on 2 May to discuss regional security issues.

Defence officials from members of the ASEAN Regional Forum, meet in Seoul on 2 May to discuss regional security issues. (Photo: Yonhap)

The event, which is an annual meeting of the ARF Defence Officials' Dialogue, was co-hosted by the RoK and Thailand. 

The officials discussed measures to strengthen maritime security capabilities in a coordinated manner and to build trust among them.

They also shared experience on humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, and explored ways to cooperate in those fields.

The ARF, formed in 1994, gathers 10 member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the bloc’s 10 dialogue partners - the EU, Australia, Canada, China, India, Japan, New Zealand, the RoK, Russia and the US - along with Papua New Guinea, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Mongolia, Pakistan, Timor Leste, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

(Source: VNA)