Brunei To Host Next ASEAN-Plus Meet In 2013

10/14/2010
(RTTNews)

The next Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Defense Ministers' Meeting-Plus (ADMM-Plus) will be held in Brunei in 2013, a declaration of the first-ever ADDM-Plus said Wednesday.

The joint declaration adopted at the defense and security forum said the meeting had built up mutual trust and co-operation, contributing to peace and stability in the region as also the world.

The delegates discussed five important areas of co-operation, including humanitarian aid and disaster-relief, military medicine, maritime security, counter-terrorism and peace-keeping operations, besides a new structure for regional security.

ASEAN-Plus working groups will discuss the initiatives referred to at the meeting in the coming months and they will be co-operate till replaced by the next defense ministerial forum in 2013.

Either defense chiefs or representatives from ten Southeast Asian countries and eight dialogue partners, including China, India and the United States, attended the one-day conclave in Vietnamese capital Hanoi.

In his opening remarks, Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung said the meeting marked a new development phase of ASEAN's defense co-operation.

The meeting, titled "Strategic Co-operation for Peace, Stability and Development in the Region," would reaffirm the open nature of the ASEAN Defense Ministers' meeting, and help promote defense dialogue and co-operation between ASEAN and its dialogue partners, he said.