Minister for Defence in Laos for 10th ADMM

Minister for Defence Dr Ng Eng Hen will be in Vientiane, Laos, from 24 to 27 May. On 25 May, Dr Ng will be attending the 10th ASEAN Defence Ministers' Meeting (ADMM) and the ASEAN-China Defence Ministers' Informal Meeting. To mark the 10th anniversary of the ADMM, the ten Defence Ministers will be at a tree planting ceremony at the Kaysone Phomvihane National Defence Academy on 26 May.

Established in 2006, the ADMM is an important platform in ASEAN's security architecture to facilitate open and constructive dialogue on regional security issues at the ministerial level. Beyond practical cooperation among the ASEAN armed forces, under the auspices of ADMM, a direct communications link among the ten ASEAN countries that promotes quick response in emergency situations is being implemented. In addition, the ADMM has also successfully built confidence and capacities in domains such as humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HADR) and peacekeeping. Today, the ADMM is a key pillar of the ASEAN Political-Security Community.

Singapore is an active member of the ADMM and supports its initiatives to strengthen the regional security architecture. Singapore co-organised the first ASEAN Militaries' HADR Exercise with Indonesia in July 2011, and the second exercise with Brunei in June 2013. These exercises promote practical and tangible cooperation among ASEAN militaries in HADR operations, familiarise ASEAN militaries with each other's mode of operation, and are useful in the identification of areas for enhancement in HADR capacity building.

To realise the ADMM's vision of being outward-looking, Singapore, together with the fellow ASEAN Member States, set up the ADMM-Plus in 2010, which has grown to become an important platform for ASEAN and eight of its Dialogue Partners to strengthen cooperation. As a demonstration of the ADMM-Plus' resolve to work together to more effectively address common security challenges, the ADMM-Plus will set up a new Experts' Working Group[1] on Cyber Security, bringing the number of Experts' Working Groups to seven in total. The ADMM-Plus will conduct four exercises this year, including the recently concluded Maritime Security and Counter-Terrorism Exercise co-organised by Singapore, Brunei, Australia and New Zealand.

Dr Ng is accompanied by Permanent Secretary for Defence Mr Chan Yeng Kit and other MINDEF officials.

[1] The eight partners are: Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand, Republic of Korea, Russia and the United States.