Shangri-La Dialogue 2018 opens

The Vietnamese delegation to the event is led by Defence Minister General Ngo Xuan Lich and Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Vietnam People’s Army Senior Lieutenant General Pham Ngoc Minh.

Defence Minister Lich is scheduled to deliver a speech at the third plenary session themed 'Shaping Asia’s evolving security order' on June 2nd.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi delivered a keynote address at the opening session. This is a first time an Indian Prime Minister has attended the Shangri-La Dialogue.

The agenda includes five plenary sessions on US leadership and the challenges of Indo-Pacific security, de-escalating the crisis in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, shaping Asia’s evolving security order, new dimensions of terrorism and counter-terrorism and raising the bar for regional security co-operation.

The event also features several sessions covering such issues as new strategic technologies and the future of conflict, maritime security enhancement, strategic implications of military capability development in the Asia-Pacific and the management of competition in regional security cooperation.

Convened by the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies, the Shangri-La Dialogue is the most important regular gathering of defence professionals in Asia-Pacific, a vital annual fixture in the diaries of ministers and their civilian and military chiefs of staff.

Since its launch in 2002, the dialogue has built confidence and fostered security ties by facilitating easy communication among the region’s most important defence and security policy-makers./.