2nd ASEAN Defence Minister's Meeting-Plus Experts' Working Group on Maritime Security

February 13, 2012 Dte Defence Policy, MoD of Brunei Darussalam – defpro.com

SABAH, MALAYSIA | The second ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting-Plus (ADMM-Plus) Experts’ Working Group (EWG) on Maritime Meeting was held in Kota Kinabalu,Sabah Malaysia from 8 to 10 February 2012.

The Meeting was co-chaired by Ms. Suriani Ahmad, Undersecretary Policy and Strategic Planning, Ministry of Defence, Malaysia and CDRE Vince Di Pietro, Director General Navy Capability, Plans and Engagement of Australia. The meeting was attended by representatives of all ASEAN Member States and the Plus Countries, except for Myanmar and India. Brunei Darussalam was represented by 290 Lieutenant Colonel (L) Abang Abas bin Abang Haji Omarzuki from the Royal Brunei Navy (RBN) and two Research Officers from the Directorate of Defence Policy, Ministry of Defence.

The Second EWG on Maritime Security Meeting was built on discussions arising from the inaugural EWG meeting on Maritime Security held in Perth, Australia in July last year. The meeting is to further deepen the specific initiatives for defence and military practical cooperation to help enhance capacity building on maritime security for member states. During the Meeting, Malaysia presented a proposal concept paper titled ADMM-Plus Expert Working Group on Maritime Security Future Development for ADMM-Plus member states to consider. It outlined the proposal for the establishment of a mechanism to support the work of the EWG on Maritime Security and implement its decisions. The Meeting also tried to identify the common areas of cooperation as a way forward to undertake challenges associated with regional maritime security issues. The Meeting has concluded with a discussion on a scenario-based workshop on Maritime Security to be held back-to-back with the 3rd ADMM-Plus EWG sometime in August 2012 in Malaysia.

Maritime Security is one of the five areas for cooperation agreed by the inaugural ADMM-Plus Meeting when it first met in October 2010. The EWG on Maritime Security is currently co-chaired by Malaysia and Australia until 2013. The other EWGs under the ADMM-Plus framework include humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, counter-terrorism, military medicine and peace keeping operations. The EWGs will provide opportunities for the ADMM-Plus countries to work together to address regional security challenges and enhance mutual understanding.

The 1st ADMM-Plus Maritime Security EWG meeting was held from 20 to 22 July 2011 in Perth, Australia.