For strengthening security and defense co-operation, Nirmala Sitharaman to attend ADMM-Plus meeting in Philippines

Manila, October 23: To attend the Southeast Asian Defense Minister’s meeting Defence Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman is on her first foreign visit to the Philippines for three days from Monday. ASEAN Defense Ministers' Meeting (ADMM)-Plus meeting is held for discussing the ways to boost the defense and security co-operation.

 

The ADMM-plus meeting is a stage for the nations to counter various transnational security challenges. For strengthening security and defense co-operation for peace, stability, and development in the region ADMM-Plus creates a platform for ASEAN and its eight dialogue partners.

Promotion of the mutual trust and confidence between defense establishments through greater dialogue and transparency and discussion on improving maritime security cooperation among the member countries is the objective of the conference.

On 12 October 2010, the inaugural ADMM-Plus meeting was convened in Ha Noi, Vietnam. The Defense Ministers then agreed on five areas of practical cooperation to pursue under this new mechanism, namely maritime security, counter-terrorism, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, peacekeeping operations and military medicine. Expert’s Working Groups (EWGs) are established to facilitate cooperation on these areas.

The ADMM-Plus countries include ten ASEAN Member States, namely, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Viet Nam, and eight Plus countries, namely Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand, ROK, Russian Federation and the United States.