By Vo Mai Nguyen Phuong, Han Qiao

HANOI, Oct. 12 (Xinhua) -- The first ASEAN Defense Ministers' Meeting Plus (ADMM-Plus) closed here Tuesday with participants coming up with a joint declaration demonstrating their political will to strengthen cooperation to address non-traditional security challenges.

The meeting, with the theme of "Strategic Cooperation for Peace, Stability and Development in the Region", draws defense chiefs or representatives from ten ASEAN members and eight key ASEAN dialogue partners.

"Security challenges in the world are becoming more complex and transnational in nature, which requires cooperation among countries," said ministers in a joint declaration issued at the end of the meeting.

The first ADMM-Plus provided a chance for ASEAN countries to discuss cooperation with the dialogue partners to address common security challenges and maintain peace and security in the region, according to the joint declaration.

Vietnamese Defense Minister Phung Quang Thanh held that in the past ten years, the rise of new non-traditional security threats has become more apparent to the region.

The first ADMM-Plus meeting has truly opened an official and high-level dialogue mechanism on defense and security between ASEAN countries and countries outside the bloc, contributing to peace, stability and development in the region and the world, said Thanh.

Chinese State Councilor and Defense Minister Liang Guanglie said at the meeting that the security situation in the Asia- Pacific remains generally stable but the region is still confronted with many traditional and non-traditional security challenges, like tsunami, earthquake, typhoon and flood.

Non-traditional security issues pose grave challenges to regional security, economic growth and people's livelihood, said Liang, adding that non-traditional security threats are usually transnational and unpredictable, and require a joint response.

Liang proposed at the meeting that countries in the region should strengthen non-traditional security cooperation to address practical issues in regional security.

Liang said China supports the ADMM-Plus in focusing on non- traditional security cooperation and giving priority to tackling non-traditional security challenges which directly threaten the lives and well-being of the people in the Asia-Pacific.

During the one-day meeting, defense ministers and representatives focused their cooperation in five areas including humanitarian aid and disaster relief, military medicine, maritime security, counter-terrorism, and peace-keeping operations.

They decided to assign defense senior officials to set up experts' working groups to boost cooperation in the above- mentioned prioritized areas.

Chinese Defense Minister Liang Guanglie said at the meeting China will join hands with Vietnam to co-chair an expert working group on humanitarian assistance and disaster relief to strengthen the region's capacity to tackle non-traditional security challenges.

The first ADMM-Plus drew defense ministers or representatives from 10 ASEAN members -- Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam -- and their eight dialogue partners -- Australia, China, India, Japan, South Korea, New Zealand, Russia and the United States.