ASEAN defence ministers renew commitment to promote regional security

Member-nations of the Association of Southeast Asian Nation (ASEAN) on Monday signed a joint declaration here, reaffirming their commitments and goals to promote cooperation and regional security. The declaration signed during the 11th ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting (ADMM) in this metropolis embodies the collective sense of the ASEAN on the regional security environment. More importantly, it contains their specific undertakings to address the security challenges facing the region as well as the practical measures to promote cooperation, reports the official Philippines News Agency.

Since 2006 when the first ADMM convened, the ministers have issued a joint declaration. The ADMM is the highest defence consultative and cooperative mechanism in the ASEAN. It aims to promote mutual trust and confidence through greater understanding of defence and security challenges, as well as enhancement of transparency and openness among the 10 ASEAN member states-- Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, The Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. On the other hand, the ADMM-Plus is a platform for ASEAN Defence Ministers to engage their counterparts from the Plus countries, namely: Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand, Republic of Korea, Russia and United States. Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is representing India at the meet.

She is also expected to have talks with some of the her counterparts from other countries. With the establishment of the ADMM-Plus in 2010, its Experts’ Working Groups (EWGs) on humanitarian assistance and disaster response maritime security, counter-terrorism, military medicine, peacekeeping operations, humanitarian mine action and cybersecurity were organized to promote practical cooperation that would enhance the ADMM-Plus members’ defense and military interoperability and capability.