HANOI, Oct. 12 (Xinhua) -- The 1st ASEAN Defense Ministers' Meeting Plus (ADMM-Plus) opened here on Tuesday, drawing defense chiefs or representatives from ten Southeast Asian countries and eight dialogue partners including China and the United States.

In his opening speech, Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung said that the meeting is a new development phase of ASEAN's defense cooperation.

The 1st ADMM-Plus reaffirms the open nature of the ASEAN defense ministers' meeting and helps promote the defense dialogue and cooperation between ASEAN and its dialogue partners, said Dung.

The meeting reflects ASEAN's will to create favorable conditions for partners to contribute to the dealings with common threats for peace, stability and development in the region, said Dung.

Dung urged countries in the region to join hands to deal with traditional and non-traditional challenges such as terrorism, natural disaster and maritime security.

Dung expected the defense ministers to have fruitful and constructive discussion on security issues at the meeting and come up with directions and principles for future cooperation to cope with emerging challenges.

The meeting, with the theme of "Strategic Cooperation for Peace, Stability and Development in the Region", is the first gathering of defense ministers from ASEAN and its dialogue partners and it aims to demonstrate political will of participating countries.

Delegates at the one-day meeting are expected to hold discussions on five prioritized cooperation areas including humanitarian aid and disaster relief, military medicine, maritime security, counter-terrorism, and peace-keeping operations.

Chinese State Councilor and Defense Minister Liang Guanglie led a delegation to the meeting. He is scheduled to deliver a speech at the meeting.

A joint declaration is expected to be issued later Tuesday at the end of 1st ADMM-Plus.

The meeting draws participation of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) bloc, and their eight dialogue partners -- Australia, China, India, Japan, the Republic of Korea, New Zealand, Russia and the United States.