Joint Declaration of the ADMM-Plus to Reaffirm the Commitment of Member Countries to Enhance Regional Peace and Security

WE, the Defence Ministers of the Member States of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Australia, the People's Republic of China, the Republic of India, Japan, the Republic of Korea, New Zealand, the Russian Federation, and the United States of America gathered here in Ha Noi, Viet Nam on 12 October 2010 for the First ASEAN Defence Ministers' Meeting - Plus (hereinafter referred to as "ADMM-Plus");

WELCOMING the decision of the Fourth ADMM held on 11 May 2010 for Viet Nam to convene the inaugural meeting of the ADMM-Plus in 2010, which is a significant milestone in ASEAN's history, with the composition of 10 ASEAN Member States and 8 Dialogue Partners, namely Australia, China, India, Japan, the Republic of Korea, New Zealand, Russia, and the United States (hereinafter referred to as the "Plus" countries);NOTING the significant contributions of the eight "Plus" countries to peace, stability, and development of Southeast Asia, as well as their aspiration to enhance cooperation with ASEAN through the ADMM-Plus;

ACKNOWLEDGING that security challenges in the region and in the world are more complex and transnational in nature, which requires cooperation among countries in the region;

RECOGNISING the importance of establishing the ADMM-Plus as a key component of a robust, effective, open, and inclusive regional security architecture that would enable the ADMM to cooperate with the eight “Plus” countries to address our common security challenges;

REAFFIRMING ASEAN centrality in the ADMM-Plus process and that the ADMM-Plus is an integral part of the ADMM that is to contribute positively to ASEAN's efforts to realise the ASEAN Political-Security Community by 2015;

REITERATING our commitment, as enshrined in the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia, on the basis of equality, non-discrimination, and mutual benefit, and guided by the fundamental principles of sovereignty, equality, non-interference, consensus, and unity in diversity;

NOTING that the ADMM-Plus is the highest ministerial defence and security consultative and cooperative mechanism for regional security issues amongst the ASEAN Member States and the eight "Plus" countries;RECALLING the principles and modalities included within the papers approved by the ASEAN Defence Ministers, namely the ADMM-Plus Concept Paper (2007); ADMM-Plus: Principles for Membership (2009); ADMM-Plus: Configuration and Composition (2010); and ADMM-Plus: Modalities and Procedures (2010);

DO HEREBY UNDERTAKE TO:
1. Affirm our commitment to enhance peace, security, and prosperity in the region;
2. Promote the ADMM-Plus as a useful and effective platform for cooperation on defence and security issues that is able to make useful contributions to regional peace and security;
3. Enhance friendship, mutual trust, and confidence through greater dialogue and exchange among the ADMM-Plus defence establishments;
4. Strengthen regional defence and security cooperation through conduct of concrete and practical cooperation to address defence and security issues of mutual interest, with a view to building capacity, developing expertise, and enhancing coordination in areas that can contribute to regional peace and security;
5. Welcome the initiatives for practical cooperation as encapsulated in the Discussion Paper on "Potential, Prospect, and Direction of Practical Cooperation within the Framework of the ADMM-Plus";
6. Establish an ASEAN Defence Senior Officials' Meeting-Plus (ADSOM-Plus) to implement the understandings and decisions of the ADMM-Plus;
7. Task the ADSOM-Plus to establish specific Expert Working Groups on defence and security issues of mutual interest;
and 8. Welcome the convening of the 2nd ADMM-Plus Meeting to be held in Brunei Darussalam in 2013. SIGNED in Ha Noi, Viet Nam, on the Twelfth Day of October in the Year Two Thousand and Ten, in a single original copy in the English language.
For Brunei Darussalam:

DATO PADUKA HAJI MUSTAPPA BIN HAJI SIRAT
Deputy Minister of Defence
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For the Kingdom of Cambodia:

GENERAL TEA BANH
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Defence
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For the Republic of Indonesia:

PURNOMO YUSGIANTORO
Minister for Defence
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For the Lao People's Democratic Republic:

LIEUTENANT GENERAL DOUANGCHAY PHICHITH
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Defence
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For Malaysia:

DATO' SERI DR AHMAD ZAHID HAMIDI
Minister of Defence
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For the Union of Myanmar:

U KHIN MAUNG SOE
For the Minister for Defence

For the Republic of the Philippines:

VOLTAIRE T. GAZMIN
Secretary of National Defense
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For the Republic of Singapore:

TEO CHEE HEAN
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence
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For the Kingdom of Thailand:

GENERAL PRAWIT WONGSUWON
Minister of Defence
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For the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam:

GENERAL PHUNG QUANG THANH
Minister of National Defence

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For Australia:

STEPHEN SMITH
Minister for Defence
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For the People's Republic of China:

GENERAL LIANG GUANGLIE
Minister of National Defence

For the Republic of India:

SHRI A.K. ANTONY
Minister of Defence
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For Japan:

JUN AZUMI
Parliamentary Senior Vice Minister of Defense
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For the Republic of Korea:

KIM TAE YOUNG
Minister of Defense
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For New Zealand:

WAYNE MAPP
Minister of Defence
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For the Russian Federation:

GENERAL NIKOLAI MAKAROV
Minister of Defence
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For the United States of America:

ROBERT MICHAEL GATES
Secretary of Defence

More Resources

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