ASEAN Regional Forum holds meeting on confidence building, preventive diplomacy

Officials from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Regional Forum met on Friday for a three-day meeting to discuss the confidence-building measures and development of preventive diplomacy in Vietnam's central province of Khanh Hoa, Vietnam News Agency reported.

At the meeting, the officials exchanged views on regional and international situations as well as discussed the confidence- building measures and future development of ASEAN Regional Forum ( ARF).

Delegates also focused on the preparations for the ARF Senior Officials Meeting (ARF SOM) in May and the ARF Ministerial Meeting in July this year.

Speaking at the meeting, leader of Vietnamese SOM Pham Quang Vinh praised the contributions of the forum to the regional peace and stability.

Vinh also said that Vietnam, as the chair of ARF, will do it utmost for the development of ARF, said the report.

The ASEAN Regional Forum was established in 1993. The current participants in the ARF include Australia, Bangladesh, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Canada, China, the European Union, India, Indonesia, Japan, the Democratic Peoples' Republic of Korea, the Republic of Korea, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Mongolia, New Zealand, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, the Russian Federation, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Timor Leste, the United States and Vietnam.

Source: Xinhua