Viet Nam will give priority to defense and security cooperation within the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) during its ASEAN Chairmanship 2020. 

The ASEAN Regional Forum Defense Officials' Dialogue (ARF DOD)
is co-chaired by Viet Nam and the US on July 1, 2020. 

The ASEAN Regional Forum Defense Officials' Dialogue (ARF DOD) was co-chaired by Viet Nam and the US on July 1 to promote defense cooperation in the COVID-19 pandemic fight within the ARF framework and prepare for the 17th ARF Security Policy Conference (ASPC), which will be organized on July 8. 

Speaking at the event, Deputy Minister of Defense Nguyen Chi Vinh said that ASEAN and its partners have actively responded to the new situations amid COVID-19 period and launched activities through video-conference. 

Especially, the outcomes of the Special Summit on COVID-19 Response, the Special ASEAN Plus Three Summit on Coronavirus Disease 2019 and the Joint Statement by the ASEAN Defense Ministers on Defense Cooperation Against Disease Outbreaks have been carried out. 

Highlighting the role and meaning of the ARF, Vinh asserted that the ARF is a cooperative mechanism chaired by diplomatic channel, of which defense and security cooperation play a crucial role in practically implementing measures to build trusts and preventive diplomacy. 

The Vietnamese Ministry of Defense will make efforts in effectively enhancing this crucial cooperative channel, he confirmed. 

At the meeting, delegates agreed to promote connectivity in defense cooperation between the ASEAN Defense Ministers' Meeting Plus (ADMM+) and the ARF. 

Key contents such as cooperation in military medicine and humanitarian relief in the pandemic responses was also discussed at the event.