Dr Ng: Singapore Pledges to Strengthen Cooperation and Build Resilience as ADMM Chair in 2018

Minister for Defence Dr Ng Eng Hen participated in the ASEAN Defence Ministers' Meeting (ADMM) Chairmanship handover ceremony today, where Singapore officially took over the ADMM and ADMM-Plus Chairmanship. 

Speaking at the ceremony, Dr Ng congratulated the Philippines for successfully conducting the 11th ADMM and the 4th ADMM-Plus. He said that Singapore would build on the Philippines' good work in 2018 and work with all ADMM and ADMM-Plus partners to strengthen security in the region.

Dr Ng also attended the 4th ADMM-Plus today. The ADMM-Plus discussed international and regional security issues such as the growing terror threat in the region as well as the situation in the Korean Peninsula. Dr Ng shared that Singapore will focus on three key thrusts in 2018 - promoting regional counter-terrorism collaboration, growing collective capability for Chemical, Biological and Radiological threats, and promulgating the use of practical confidence-building measures in the aviation and maritime domains. Dr Ng said, "The first on top of everybody's mind is terrorism, and for good reason. Marawi was a wakeup call to all ASEAN countries, and a grim warning that the devastation that we see in Iraq and Syria can very well happen in ASEAN countries... So I said that one of our focus would be on terrorism, and we are going to hold special sessions on terrorism in the highest levels of leadership." He added "The second area of concern is, of course, chemical and nuclear and radiation attacks…what Singapore wants to do is to encourage information sharing in terms of how individual countries can deal with such attacks." Lastly, Dr Ng noted that a "third focus is on confidence-building measures" which would "build understanding, if not trust." 

Dr Ng reaffirmed the importance of the ADMM-Plus in promoting practical cooperation to strengthen interoperability between the ADMM-Plus' militaries, and welcomed the Defence Ministers to attend the 5th ADMM-Plus that Singapore will host in 2018.

Dr Ng will join Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in Washington D.C. from 25 to 26 October 2017 following the conclusion of the 11th ADMM and 4th ADMM-Plus.