The Department of National Defense (DND) said Monday, Feb. 20, that it enhanced its security cooperation with its counterparts from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) after participating in back-to-back regional conferences in Jakarta, Indonesia.
DND Assistant Sec. for Strategic Assessments and International Affairs (ASSAIA) Henry Robinson Jr. led the Philippine delegation to the ASEAN Defense Senior Officials’ Meeting Working Group (ADSOM WG) and ADSOM-Plus WG in Jakarta, Indonesia from Feb. 14 to 17.
“At the sidelines, Assistant Secretary Robinson met with counterparts from Australia, Indonesia, Japan, New Zealand, Republic of Korea, Thailand and Singapore to reaffirm the commitment of the Department of National Defense to bolster defense relations with partner-countries,” said DND spokesperson Arsenio Andolong.
Participants to the two conferences reviewed and assessed the existing ASEAN Defense Ministers’ Meeting (ADMM) and ADMM-Plus initiatives including the progress of practical cooperation under the Experts Working Groups (EWGs) for the 2021 to 2024 cycle, and the outcome documents for the adoption of the defense ministers later in July.
The ADMM is the highest defense consultative and cooperative mechanism in the ASEAN which aims to foster cooperation among member-countries to address shared defense and security challenges. Its members include Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, People’s Democratic Republic of Lao, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.
Meanwhile, the ADMM-plus serves as a platform to facilitate practical cooperation between ASEAN and eight dialogue partners namely Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand, Republic of Korea, Russia, and United States to strengthen security and defense cooperation for peace, stability, and development in the region.
Together, they created seven EWGs to coordinate their operations on humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HADR), maritime security, military medicine, counter-terrorism, peacekeeping operations, humanitarian mine action, and cybersecurity.
Robinson then reported on the updates of the Philippine-led ADMM initiatives such as the established guidelines for maritime interaction, ADMM-wide education and training exchanges (AETE), and the Philippines’ hosting of the 4th ASEAN Military Medicine Conference in November last year, Andolong stated.
Robinson also shared the Philippines’ perspectives on ASEAN defense cooperation within the ADMM and ADMM-Plus network, Andolong added.