The Department of National Defense joined its counterparts from Southeast Asia during the two-day working groups’ meeting for the ASEAN Defense Senior Officials’ Meeting (ADSOM) and ADSOM-Plus in Jakarta, Indonesia.
DND Asst. Secretary for Strategic Assessments and International Affairs (ASSAIA) Henry Robinson Jr. led the Philippine delegation to the meetings of the two ASEAN defense supporting bodies.
The ADSOM and ADSOM-Plus working groups reviewed and assessed existing ASEAN Defense Ministers’ Meeting (ADMM) and ADMM-Plus initiatives, including the progress of practical cooperation under the Experts Working Groups (EWGs) for the 2021-2024 cycle and the outcome documents for the adoption of the Defense Ministers in July 2023.
Defense spokesman Arsenio Andolong Jr. said that during the twin meetings, Robinson reported on the updates of Philippine-led ADMM initiatives, including the ADMM Guidelines for Maritime Interaction (GMI), ADMM-Wide Education and Training Exchanges (AETE) and the Philippines’ hosting of the 4th ASEAN Military Medicine Conference (AMMC) in November 2022 in Manila.
“Following the theme of Indonesia’s ADMM chairmanship, “Peace, Prosperity, and Security”, Assistant Secretary Robinson also shared the Philippines’ perspectives on ASEAN defense cooperation within the ADMM and ADMM-Plus framework. He also extended the Philippines’ full support for Indonesia’s 2023 ASEAN Chairmanship,” Andolong said.
He said that Robinson also met at the sidelines of the meetings with counterparts from Australia, Indonesia, Japan, New Zealand, Republic of Korea, Thailand and Singapore.
During the meetings, Robinson reaffirmed the commitment of the Department of National Defense to bolster defense relations with partner countries.
The ADMM is the highest defense consultative and cooperative mechanism in ASEAN, fostering cooperation to address shared defense and security challenges. Meanwhile, the ADMM-Plus serves as a platform which facilitates practical cooperation between ASEAN and eight of its dialogue partners through seven EWGs focusing on the areas of counter-terrorism, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, maritime security, military medicine, peacekeeping operations, humanitarian mine action and cyber security.
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Image credits: PNA