Joint Statement of the 12th ASEAN Navy Chiefs' Meeting on ASEAN Navies – Strengthening Cooperation, Building Resilience

WE, the Navy Chiefs and representative(s) from Brunei Darussalam, the Kingdom of Cambodia, the Republic of Indonesia, the Lao People's Democratic Republic, Malaysia, the Republic of the Union of Myanmar, the Republic of the Philippines, the Republic of Singapore, the Kingdom of Thailand, and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, gathered here in Singapore, on 4 August 2018 for the 12th ASEAN Navy Chiefs' Meeting (hereinafter referred to as "ANCM");

RECALLING the formal establishment of the ASEAN Navy Interaction (ANI) hosted by the Royal Thai Navy in 2001, and its renaming to ANCM during the 5th ANI meeting in 2011 hosted by the Vietnam People's Navy;

ACKNOWLEDGING the ANCM as the highest navy-to-navy interaction platform, and the ASEAN Navy Young Officers' Interaction among junior officers, established to build trust, confidence and interoperability to enhance regional peace and stability, as well as to foster stronger relations among ASEAN navies;

REAFFIRMING the importance of a regional maritime rules-based order in accordance with international law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), in ensuring the peace, stability and prosperity for ASEAN;

ACKNOWLEDGING the importance of practising and observing existing international protocols including the Code for Unplanned Encounters at Sea (CUES) in promoting safety of navigation and overflight for all naval ships and naval aircraft;

NOTING with grave concern, emerging non-traditional security challenges in the region, and the need for all efforts to be conducted in order to establish good order at sea;

RECOGNISING the importance of strengthening practical cooperation among ASEAN navies and with our partners of the ADMM-Plus in addressing maritime security challenges;

RECOGNISING the importance of information-sharing, the role of the International Liaison Officers (ILO) at the Information Fusion Centre (IFC), and the value of information-sharing exercises in contributing to the deepening of trust, cooperation, and mutual understanding between ASEAN navies;

COMMENDING the outcomes of the inaugural ASEAN Multilateral Naval Exercise (AMNEX) in Thailand in August 2017, which strengthened mutual understanding and interoperability;

DO HEREBY DECLARE TO:

• Uphold and commit to a regional maritime rules-based order in accordance with international law, including UNCLOS, and national law;

• Commit to practising CUES as a confidence building measure to enhance maritime safety, reduce misunderstandings, and prevent miscalculations at sea;

• Strengthen practical cooperation to address ongoing maritime security challenges in order to establish good order at sea through exercises such as the AMNEX, the ASEAN Maritime Security Information Sharing Exercise, and the ADMM-Plus Expert Working Group on Maritime Security Field Training Exercise;

• Strengthen information-sharing through the ASEAN Information-Sharing Portal, supported by the ASEAN ILOs, as a key component of maritime security cooperation between ASEAN navies;

• Welcome and support the Royal Cambodian Navy's hosting of the 13th ANCM;

DONE in the Republic of Singapore, on the 4th of August in the Year Two Thousand and Eighteen, in a single original copy in the English language.

More Resources

• ASEAN Navy Chiefs Affirm Commitment to Strengthen Cooperation