The ASEAN Defence Ministers' Meeting (ADMM)-Plus comprises the ten ASEAN countries and eight non-ASEAN countries - Australia, China, India, Japan, Republic of Korea, New Zealand, Russia and the United States. The first ADMM Plus was held in Hanoi, Vietnam from 10-13 Oct 2010. The second meeting is slated to be held in Brunei in 2013.

Significance of the ADMM-PlusThe ADMM-Plus provides a platform for the Defence Ministers of ASEAN and key non-ASEAN countries to have a robust exchange of views, on security issues of mutual interest. It offers an avenue for these defence establishments to enhance cooperation in a practical, concrete and focused manner. The ADMM-Plus is thus significant, as such a platform did not exist in the region before it came along.

Achievements of the inaugural ADMM-PlusApart from the strategic discussions among the Defence Ministers on key security issues, the ADMM-Plus also explored how to foster practical cooperation. In this regard, the ADMM-Plus agreed to establish an ASEAN Defence Senior Officials' Meeting-Plus (ADSOM-Plus), comprising senior defence officials from all the ADMM Plus member countries. The ADSOM-Plus would be responsible for implementing agreements and decisions of the ADMM-Plus.

The ADSOM-Plus will explore furthering cooperation in five areas for a start: humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, maritime security, military medicine, counter-terrorism and peacekeeping operations. To support these cooperative efforts, the ADMM-Plus will set up Experts' Working Groups in each of these areas to drive cooperation among the armed forces at the operational level. The Experts' Working Groups will study how to facilitate information sharing and professional exchanges through visits, workshops, and seminars. It will also examine how to build upon and contribute to existing security initiatives in these areas.

Background to the ADMM-PlusThe ASEAN Leaders too have previously expressed strong support for the establishment of the ADMM-Plus during the 16th ASEAN Summit in April 2010. The ASEAN Leaders also supported its convening on a regular basis and tasked the Defence Ministers to ensure its early implementation.

The ASEAN Defence Ministers have also recognised the importance of leveraging on the expertise, perspectives and resources of all countries that have a stake in the region, in order to deal with the emerging regional security challenges. The ASEAN Defence Ministers have therefore taken steps to develop the concept of the ADMM-Plus over the past four years:The defence establishments of the ADMM-Plus countries have shared a long standing tradition of bilateral cooperation. In addition, the militaries of the countries in the ADMM-Plus cooperate with each other at the multilateral level. The ADMM-Plus also builds on existing efforts under the ASEAN military track, which includes the ASEAN Chiefs of Defence Force Informal Meeting and the meetings among the Service Chiefs and Intelligence Chiefs. Such efforts include a table-top exercise among the ASEAN militaries to be conducted in 2011, co-hosted by the Singapore Armed Forces and the Indonesian National Defence Forces (TNI).