ASEAN members strengthen air force cooperation

VIENTIANE -- The 10th ASEAN Air Chiefs conference opened in Lao capital Vientiane on Sunday, aiming to strengthening cooperation of the ASEAN Air Forces regarding Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR).

Addressing the conference, themed "Partners for Peace and Development", the first of its kind ever held in Laos, Khamphat Phimmahaxay, director general of the Lao Air Force Department, said the ASEAN community is facing many challenges including climate change, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, storms, floods, droughts and epidemics.

To address the problem, building a mechanism for cooperation in HADR within the ASEAN Air Forces is a crucial and urgent need to be discussed at this conference, state-run daily Vientiane Times quoted the official as saying on Monday.

Cooperation and better relations through sharing experience in training and education would help to negate the problem of development disparity between ASEAN air forces, Phimmahaxay said. To this end, participants discussed a proposal by the Lao Air Force on the establishment of a standard operating procedure for ASEAN Air Force cooperation on HADR. The conference agreed that further talks on the establishment of a standard operating procedure should be convened.

During the conference, a concept paper by the Royal Malaysian Air Force on the implementation of the ASEAN Air Force Education and Training Working Group was adopted.

Myanmar will host the next, 11th ASEAN Air Chiefs Conference.